US Commerce Department blacklists NSO Group amid phone hacking allegations

Israeli cyber firm NSO Group, and three similar vendors based in Israel, Russia and Singapore, have been blacklisted by the U.S. Department of Commerce amid the Pegasus phone hacking allegations, The Wall Street Journal reports. The designation restricts the vendors from obtaining some types of technology from the U.S. and would ban work with U.S. cybersecurity vendors and researchers. The Commerce Department said NSO Group “developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used this tool to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers.”