Pegasus spyware
NSO Group mobile surveillance spyware sold to governments.
When Britain, the US and the Netherlands exposed Iran's CHOSEN BRICK spyware on 15 September 2026, Pegasus was the contrast: a commercial product from Israel's NSO Group that export controls and lawsuits have reached.
Last refreshed: 12 October 2026
Why can export controls reach Pegasus but not Iran's own spyware?
Timeline for Pegasus spyware
Named as Pegasus spyware
Cybersecurity: Threats and Defences: Mentioned in: UK, US and Dutch expose Iranian spywareBackground
Pegasus is mobile spyware built by Israel's NSO Group and sold to governments. Because a company sells it, Pegasus has been exposed to sanctions and litigation in a way that state-built tools such as Iran's CHOSEN BRICK are not.
In November 2021 the US Commerce Department put NSO Group on its Entity List, finding that foreign governments had used its spyware against officials, journalists, activists and others. Apple sued NSO on 23 November 2021, saying the FORCEDENTRY exploit, uncovered by Citizen Lab, had been used to install Pegasus on Apple devices.
Pegasus's use against civil society goes back to at least 2016, when an iOS zero-day put it on the phone of the human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor.
