French President Emmanuel Macron [Source: BBC]

French President Emmanuel Macron is one of several world leaders believed to have been targeted for phone hacking using spyware, media reports say.

The software, known as Pegasus, infects phones and allows operators to spy on their targets.

The leaders are on a list of some 50,000 phone numbers of people believed to be of interest to clients of Israeli-based firm NSO Group. The list was leaked to major news outlets.

NSO denies any wrongdoing.