Moroccan whistleblower reveals power and reach of Israel’s Pegasus spyware

A Moroccan intelligence insider has helped expose the scale and reach of the country’s use of Pegasus spyware. The advanced Israeli-made technology hacks into smartphones allowing spies to eavesdrop on and manipulate the devices.

The former agent said Pegasus was used to spy on journalists, activists and foreign officials from Spain and France.

As the Guardian has it:

Pegasus, which is manufactured by the Israel-based NSO Group, allows its operator to access everything on a target’s mobile phone, including emails, text messages and photographs.

It can also activate the phone’s recorder and camera, turning it into a listening device.

Morocco claims it uses the technology, arguing:

that reporters who have investigated NSO Group were “incapable of proving [the country had] any relationship” with the company.

Inside the secret world of Pegasus

The whistleblower, known as Safir, has offered key insights into the work of the Direction Générale de la Surveillance du Territoire (DGST), Morocco’s internal security agency. Safir, who spent a decade in the agency, claims:

the country’s internal security services began using Pegasus in 2017 and went on to deploy it against domestic and foreign targets over the course of four years.

The result is a multi-year investigation across several news outlets as well as Amnesty International’s Security Lab. Le Monde, Haaretz, El Confidencial, Die Zeit and the Guardian all worked on the investigation.

The project’s coordinator, media NGO Forbidden Stories:

analysed material detailing Morocco’s surveillance practices, from leaked emails to targeting records relating to Pegasus and other spyware, and from victims’ testimony to internal training material.

The Guardian reported:

Two other former Moroccan intelligence agents also provided information and corroborated facts. Safir’s testimony is corroborated by leaked material, including the Pegasus project dataset, which has been forensically analysed by Amnesty International’s Security Lab.

Spying on dissenters and officials with Israeli tech

The investigation found DGST officials met figures from the Israeli tech firm in a swanky Morrocan villa in 2017. NSO officials demonstrated the spyware. Morocco later adopted it.

The spyware was used to target Spanish police officials and Moroccan and French human rights advocates.

Investigators say further evidence of Morocco’s use of Pegasus emerged when WhatsApp sued NSO in 2025:

Further evidence that Morocco used Pegasus emerged last year after WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, took NSO Group to court in the US for exploiting its messaging platform to target people.

Israel allegedly barred exports of Pegasus to Morocco after a 2021 ban. The Biden administration imposed the ban on NSO for acting:

contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US.

Authoritarianism is on the rise globally. Pegasus spyware is a terrifying threat. The Morocco leaks hint the scale and scope of danger this powerful Israeli hacking software poses to states and citizens alike.

Featured image via EuroMed

By Joe Glenton