EXCLUSIVE: Here’s something to be afraid of: your cell phone is being used to spy on you, without you knowing.

That disturbing scenario, made real by software developed by an Israeli cyber intelligence agency, is explored by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow in the new HBO documentary Monitored. The film, directed and produced by Emmy winners Matthew O’Neill and Perri Peltz, premieres on HBO on Monday, November 20 and will be available for streaming on Max. We get our first look at the documentary in the trailer above, ahead of its world premiere this Friday at DOC NYC.

Farrow himself became the target of cyber surveillance while covering the story that ultimately brought down Harvey Weinstein. The journalist’s new investigation takes him from New York to Israel, home of NSO Group, the company that created Pegasus spyware.

“Commercial spyware, capable of taking complete control of mobile phones without the knowledge of their owners, and long heralded as a tool bought by governments to fight terrorism, is now appearing on the phones of activists, journalists , politicians and ordinary people,” notes. a release about the documentary. “Monitored takes us inside the secretive industry and into the offices of Israeli spyware company NSO Group, where we gain rare access to the engineers and executives behind the controversial spyware Pegasus.”

The release continues: “As Farrow exposes the complex relationship between the spyware makers and the big tech companies dedicated to preventing security breaches on their platforms, Monitored highlights a clandestine company that is reshaping contemporary concepts of privacy and power and reveals the ethical dilemmas that citizens and governments must now navigate in the brave new world of cyber espionage. As Farrow follows a reporting trail to Barcelona, ​​Spain, and the largest documented mass hack using commercial spyware, the film reflects on the human consequences for communities caught in the crossfire of 21st century cyberwar.

One of the main participants in the film is Farrow, who writes for The New Yorker; colleague, Citizen Lab, Elies Campo; director, Citizen Lab, Ron Deibert; Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn), an intelligence expert who just won re-election to Congress; The New Yorker editor David Remnick; former editor-in-chief, The New YorkerDavid Rohde; Director of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, Nathaniel Fick; former technical manager, WhatsApp, Claudiu Dan Gheorghe; head of WhatsApp, Will Cathcart; former Member of the European Parliament, Jordi Solé Ferrando; NSO Group’s Leoz Michaelson, Omer Len, Shmuel Sunray, Yochany Manoff, Ellynoy Baron and Tal Agam; journalist at Haaretz, Chaim Levinson; Spanish Senator Laura Castel Fort; activist and former spyware engineer Joan Matamala; as well as former Israeli Knesset member Sami Abu Shehadeh.

HBO Documentary Films presents Monitoredproduced and directed by Matthew O’Neill and Perri Peltz, and produced by Ronan Farrow, Beth Morrissey and Unjin Lee. The film was written by Ronan Farrow, Matthew O’Neill and Perri Peltz, and edited by David Meneses. Original music is by Mac Quayle. For HBO, the executive producers are Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller and Sara Rodriguez.

O’Neill and Peltz’s credits include HBO’s Axios And Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America. Farrow served as host and executive producer of the 2021 HBO documentary series Catch and Kill: the podcast tapesdirected by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, and executive produced the 2022 HBO documentary Endangereddirected by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.

Watch the trailer for Monitored above.