FBI confirms it bought Pegasus spyware from Israel's NSO Group

The FBI confirmed purchasing NSO Group's powerful spyware tool Pegasus, whose chronic abuse to surveil journalists, dissidents and human rights activists has long been established. It suggested its motivation was to “stay abreast of emerging technologies and tradecraft.”

The agency added in a statement Thursday that it obtained a limited license from the Israeli firm “for product testing and evaluation only,” never using it operationally or to support any investigation, news agency Associated Press reported.