No transaction with Pegasus makers: MoD
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 9
Even as a debate rages on the use of Pegasus software for snooping, the Ministry of Defence today said it did not have any transaction with the Israeli NSO Group, which sells the spyware.
The NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance software company, has been under increasing attack following allegations that its Pegasus software was used for surveillance of phones of people in several countries, including India.
“The Ministry of Defence has not had any transaction with the NSO Group Technologies,” Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
He was asked whether the government had carried out any transaction with the NSO Group Technologies.
Opposition parties have been targeting the Centre over the snooping row and disrupting Parliament proceedings since July 19.
IT and Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had dismissed media reports on the use of Pegasus software to snoop on Indians, saying the allegations levelled just ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament were aimed at maligning Indian democracy.
In a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw had said that with several checks and balances being in place, “any sort of illegal surveillance” by unauthorised persons was not possible in India.
