Pegasus infections on victims’ phones ). We are
currently searching at the University of Toronto
for a professor in information security and could
potentially hire someone to oload some work
and maybe eventually replace me as lab director.
The bigger mission: We want to build more
Citizen Labs – they don’t have to be named
that! I’d like to see 5-6 in the U.S. and Europe.
It’s frustrating that more universities don’t jump
into digital accountability research. I think it’s
just a matter of time.
Q: You have called ending the global spyware
scourge a tall order. You can’t see governments
agreeing to ban it. So what can we collectively do
to discourage unethical cyber mercenaries?
A: I see three pillars of what can by done: First,
investigative journalism is vital to expose abuses
and more awareness-raising to be done in civil
society. A lot more can also be done in the private
sector. We need tech platforms to better protect
their users from this threat. Apple and WhatsApp
(a Facebook subsidiary that sued NSO Group
in 2019) have sent strong signals that they are
not going to put up with it as they have in the
past. We need governments to act, too, as the
Commerce Department did in blacklisting NSO. If
we can get them to build export controls around
the sector and pass laws so individuals can sue
these companies -- and maybe even foreign
governments who hire them — a lot could be
done to mitigate some of the harms we’re seeing.