World Leaders on Pegasus List Include France’s President Macron, Morocco’s King Mohammed, Kazakhstan’s President

While they were in office, 14 world leaders from Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East appear to have been selected for targeting with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. Analysis suggests that, in several cases, the users of the hacking tool were their own governments.
 

• While in office, three current presidents, including France’s Emmanuel Macron, as well as three sitting prime ministers, had their numbers selected for potential attack by Pegasus, spyware made by Israeli company NSO Group.
• Numbers for seven former prime ministers and the King of Morocco were also selected.
• Some of the most senior political figures in Kazakhstan and Morocco, as well as people close to the president of Mexico, appear to have been selected for targeting by their own countries.
• Others, including Macron and seven prime ministers, appear to have been selected for targeting by foreign countries. Macron’s number was selected during a political crisis in Algeria, and evidence suggests that Algeria’s neighbor Morocco was behind the selection.
• Kazakhstan’s president was selected while he was still the regime’s number two.