'Will probe any credible misuse of technology': NSO maker Pegasus

The expose by 17 news organisations across the world created ripples since Sunday.

The company in fact  said it was a "planned and well-orchestrated media campaign lead by Forbidden Stories and pushed by special interest groups".

"NSO will thoroughly investigate any credible proof of misuse of its technologies, as we always had, and will shut down the system where necessary," a spokesperson said.

Some 50,000 phone numbers across the world have been identified as people of interest since 2016 by clients of the Israeli firm NSO.

More than 1,000 phone numbers in India appeared on the snooping list of the Pegasus, stated a collaborative investigation report by The Wire, The Washington Post and other media partners in 10 countries.

NSO has denied the snooping allegations, claiming that it only offers its spyware to "vetted governments" and said it was "considering a defamation lawsuit".

However, forensic tests have confirmed that some of them were successfully snooped upon by an unidentified agency using Pegasus spyware, The Wire reported.

The data was accessed by Paris-based nonprofit journalism organisation Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International and then shared with the Guardian, The Wire and other media outlets as part of the Pegasus project.