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Ammon News -

Ahmad Alhyari - A number of Jordanians said to Ammonnews that their smart phones (iPhone) have been hacked by an Israeli company.

In an exclusive statement to Ammonnews, informed sources at an international news agency in Washington told Ammonnews that two Israeli companies hacked 8000 smart phones across the world in which 200 of them belonged to Jordanians.

The Royal Hashemite Court, Olympic committee, Senator Mustafa Hamarneh, activist Hala Ahed and Jamal Khashoggi’s wife were among those who were targeted.

Activist Ahed said earlier that she received a notification that her phone has been hacked.

Senator Hamarneh said to Ammonnews that he also received a notification which stated that his phone has been hacked from February 2021 until November 2021, stating that the hack included contact numbers, photos, whats app and emails.

The American source who preferred to stay anonymous told Ammonnews that he does not know if Pegasus software was behind the hack.

Reuters reported earlier that a flaw in Apple's software exploited by Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group to break into iPhones in 2021 was simultaneously abused by a competing company, according to five people familiar with the matter.

QuaDream, the sources said, is a smaller and lower profile Israeli firm that also develops smartphone hacking tools intended for government clients, according to Reuters.

The two rival businesses gained the same ability last year to remotely break into iPhones, according to the five sources, meaning that both firms could compromise Apple phones without an owner needing to open a malicious link. That two firms employed the same sophisticated hacking technique – known as a “zero-click” – shows that phones are more vulnerable to powerful digital spying tools than the industry will admit, one expert said, as reported by Reuters.