Israeli Company Accused Of Creating Hacking Program Pledges To Respect Human Rights

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th September, 2019) Israeli tech company NSO Group Technologies, which was accused of creating a malicious program for collecting data for intelligence, said on Tuesday that it would respect human rights in line with the UN principles.

Reports emerged in July that the Pegasus cellphone hacking program developed by NSO Group Technologies was able to gain access to cloud data, including a person's history of geolocations, as well as archived messages and photos. The program was reportedly used by various governments and intelligence agencies to collect data from the phones of particular individuals.

"NSO Group ... today announced a new Human Rights Policy and the introduction of a supporting governance framework that will bring the company into alignment with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ... NSO is the first company in the global cyber technology and defense sectors to seek alignment with the Guiding Principles, cementing the company's existing industry-leading ethical business practices," the statement read.

According to the statement, the company will apply special procedures to identify potential violations of human rights and then prevent them or soften their effects.