| This week, The Post and news partners around the world reported that phone numbers for presidents, princesses, political activists and journalists appear on a list of more than 50,000 numbers that included phones that were targeted. The spyware, which is developed and sold by Israeli firm NSO as way to fight terrorism, doesn't just grant NSO's clients access to emails and photos on a person's infected device. It can essentially turn a user's infected phone into a microphone, a spy camera and a GPS tracker. And it can do it in a nearly undetectable way. Here, a Post editor explains what it was like to tell this story and two reporters share their lessons and takeaways. Planning, more planning and a poker face Investigative editor Jeff Leen leads the reporters who covered this story. He says coordination was everything. Q. What has this project taught you or what have you learned while covering it? "It required coordination and cooperation with a host of international partners on a high-pressure, fast-moving story with many moving parts. It also required a great deal of operational security, because of the sensitive nature of the material, and the ever-present threat of cyberhacking." Q. What does it feel like to walk around with big, unpublished secrets on the tip of your tongue? Do you have a good poker face? "Keeping secrets until we are ready to publish is the hallmark of our business. Loose lips sink ships. "I've been told I have a very good poker face. I had an acting teacher in college who had been a dialect coach for Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth who told me I had the best poker face she had ever seen: that she looked upon it and all she saw was a complete blank. Not sure that was a compliment for a budding actor. Still, it has served me well over the years." When a tech boss won't talk, find an early investorSilicon Valley correspondent Elizabeth Dwoskin explains how she scored lengthy interviews with both of NSO's founders, including one who'd previously never granted one. "When the story broke and I was given the assignment to profile the founders, at first they were not returning my calls. But my training in Silicon Valley reporting has always told me that when you want to talk to a powerful, inaccessible person, it often helps to find their first investor — essentially, the person who was there for them at the beginning and was often like a father figure. If the investor gets a sense that you are going to be fair, and that you are serious about understanding the technology and the journey of the company, then they can open doors for you." Read Dwoskin's interview: 'Somebody has to do the dirty work': NSO founders defend the spyware they built A top story with implications for French elections?Phone numbers for French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders appear on the list of people targeted by NSO's spyware. Paris correspondent Rick Noack says that the issue could become a storyline in next year's elections. "So far, [Macron's administration] has stressed that it's unclear what exactly happened and whether Macron was considered as a target for surveillance. But if it turns out that Macron's phone was compromised, there's a possibility that his opponents will ask why more was not done in recent years to strengthen France's cybersecurity mechanisms." It's "important to keep in mind that these revelations come less than a year before presidential elections in France, and Macron's political opponents are closely monitoring the president's actions, looking for potential vulnerabilities. Security issues are expected to be among the key topics during the campaign." — Rick Noack Read more about the people who were targeted: On the list: Ten prime ministers, three presidents and a king
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