My Take | Fear not Washington, the US is still miles ahead in cyberspying
- America has levelled charges against disbanded Chinese network security firm Hainan Xiandun, conveniently in time to distract people from the news cycle over Israeli cybersecurity specialist NSO Group and its notorious spyware Pegasus
NSO Group, an Israeli cybersecurity company at the cutting edge of network surveillance, has not been accused by Washington of anything. But the firm produces the kind of surveillance software that should worry everyone.
Washington wants you to know all about Hainan Xiandun, but not NSO. It has even marshalled the European Union to denounce the Chinese firm, which it claims was linked to the communist state.
But EU officials such as Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, are much more alarmed by how the Israeli-made spyware has been used by some NSO clients.
“Against any kind of rules we have in the European Union,” von der Leyen said. “Free press is one of the core values of the EU. It is completely unacceptable if this [hacking] were to be the case.”