Amid mounting international pressure to restrict the sale of spyware, Israel has more than halved the list of approved countries that can do business with local cyber tech companies, according to a report by Israeli newspaper Calcalist. The list has been slimmed down to 37 countries from 102, and India still figures on it. In a statement to the newspaper, the Ministry of Defense refused to "specify its policy for supervising defense exports" but said that it constantly reassesses them and only allows the export of cyber products to countries where it would be used for fighting crime and terror. There have been calls to regulate the spyware industry ever since it was revealed that multiple governments across the world, including India, used Israel-based company NSO Group's Pegasus spyware to target political leaders, journalists, human rights activists, businessmen, military officials, intelligence agency officials, and several others. Full list of countries that can still buy Israeli cyber tools According to the report, the list was updated early in November which has been reproduced below. Interestingly, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, Rwanda - which have reportedly used Pegasus- no longer feature in it. Austria Italy Iceland Ireland Estonia Bulgaria Belgium United kingdom Germany Denmark The Netherlands Greece Luxembourg Latvia Lithuania Liechtenstein Malta Norway Slovenia Slovakia Spain Portugal Finland Czech Republic France Croatia Cyprus Romania Sweden Switzerland Australia India Japan New Zealand South Korea United States Canada. Recap: What is the Pegasus controversy? In July, reports published by a…
