Pegasus Maker NSO Group CEO Steps Down Before Restructuring

meta

 The Pegasus spyware company NSO Group, based in Israel, announced on Sunday that its CEO was leaving his position as part of an organisational restructure.

Additionally, the privately held, indebted corporation declared that it will concentrate its sales efforts on NATO member nations.

An international investigation by journalists in July of last year found that NSO has sold Pegasus spyware to governments all around the world for use against journalists, politicians, and other people who advocate for human rights.

A corporate spokeswoman issued a statement saying, "NSO Group stated today the company will reorganise and CEO Shalev Hulio will step down."

Yaron Shohat, the company's chief operating officer, would now "take the lead" and oversee the restructuring process, the spokeswoman stated.

Referencing the 30-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization political and military alliance, the reorganisation "will examine all aspects of its business, including streamlining its operations to ensure NSO remains one of the world's leading high-tech cyber intelligence companies, focusing on NATO-member countries."

Mobile phones can be infiltrated with Pegasus spyware to extract data or turn on cameras or microphones.

According to NSO Group, sales of the software are subject to Israeli government permission and are limited to government organisations who want to target terrorists and criminals.

According to the business, the software has assisted security authorities in several nations in preventing crimes and attacks. Additionally, it has emphasised that it has no influence over how its clients utilise Pegasus and that the Israeli defence ministry has granted it a licence for its international sales.

Court records

Even before the eavesdropping scandal broke and the United States banned NSO, the corporation was deeply in debt.

A court case involving NSO, its creditors, and the Berkeley Research Group (BRG), the largest shareholders of NSO's parent company, was examined by AFP earlier this year. The case involved NSO, its creditors, and the BRG.

The documents suggested that in order to sustain revenue, creditors pushed NSO to keep selling Pegasus to "elevated risk" nations with dubious human rights records.

However, Berkeley Research argued that "NSO must absolutely solve the underlying concerns" that led to its US prohibition before calling for a halt to questionable sales in the absence of additional internal reviews.

In the NSO statement, Hulio, a co-founder of the business, stated that the organisation "is reorganising to prepare for its next phase of growth."

He lauded Shohat as "the appropriate decision" and asserted that NSO's technological advancements "continue to help save lives across the globe."

NSO will make sure that the company's ground-breaking technology are utilised for honourable and deserving goals, Shohat promised in the same statement.

Pegasus spyware usage revelations keep coming to light.

According to a letter seen by AFP, the European Commission, the Brussels-based arm of the EU executive, said in late July that it had discovered signs that the phones of several of its top employees had been hacked by the spyware.

Also last month, Pegasus allegedly targeted dozens of Thai democracy activists amid protracted anti-government demonstrations, according to a report from an international digital rights group.