Morocco and the UAE, which both normalised relations with Israel last year, as well as Saudi Arabia and Mexico were among countries where Pegasus has been linked to political surveillance, according to Amnesty International and the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab which studies surveillance. Those reports prompted Israel to review the cyber export policy administered by the Defence Ministry. Israel has been under pressure to rein in exports of spyware since July, when a group of international news organisations reported that NSO's Pegasus tool had been used to hack into phones of journalists, government officials and rights activists in several countries. Israel's Defence Ministry, responding to the report, said in a statement it takes "appropriate steps" when terms of usage set in export licenses it issues are violated, but stopped short of confirming any licenses had been revoked. The list of countries licensed to buy it had been cut to just 37 states, down from 102. The newspaper, which did not disclose its sources, said Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates were among countries which would now be barred from importing Israeli cyber tech. JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel slashed its list of countries eligible to buy its cyber technologies following concern over possible abuses abroad of a hacking tool sold by Israeli firm NSO Group, Israel's Calcalist financial newspaper reported on last Thursday. Israel slashes list of countries that can buy cyber tech -report added NSO Group to a list of entities banned from receiving exports from American companies, citing its role in developing and supplying spyware and hacking tools.
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A spokesperson for NSO Group declined to name the customers. “Once the inquiry was received and before any investigation under our compliance policy, we have decided to immediately terminate relevant customers’ access to the system due to the severity of the allegations,” according to NSO’s statement.