A member of the team at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab is questioning the actions of controversial Israeli spyware firm NSO Group[1] in the case of Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, who had her devices and the devices of her lawyers hacked amid a UK custody battle with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, ruler of the United Arab Emirates.
Sheikh Mohammed and Princess Haya are locked in a custody battle over their two children and the ruler ordered agents from the UAE to hack into his ex-wife's devices using Pegasus[2], the NSO Group's widely-criticized spyware. The ruler even ordered her British lawyers' phones hacked as well, drawing outrage from UK court officials who called[3] the hacks "serial breaches of domestic criminal law," "in violation of fundamental common law and ECHR rights," and an "abuse of power" by a head of state.
The tool has caused global outrage for months after Citizen Lab revealed that it was being used widely[4] by repressive governments and cybercriminal groups to monitor dissidents, human rights activists and even some world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macon[5].
William Marczak, a senior research fellow with Citizen Lab, testified in Princess Haya's case and told ZDNet that he felt compelled to participate in the trial because of how brazen Sheikh Mohammed's actions were. Marczak was also intimately involved in the case, having notified Princess Haya about Pegasus being used against her hours before NSO Group contacted her lawyers.
Marczak explained to ZDNet that he personally confirmed the use of Pegasus by forensically analyzing the phones, but said he first became aware of the possible use of Pegasus when he identified the IP address of the lawfirm Payne Hicks Beach among a set of