NSO Group, the Israeli company responsible for the infamous Pegasus spyware, has announced a reorganization that includes the departure of its CEO and co-founder, Shalev Hulio’s, and the layoff of at least 100 employees. Current COO Yaron Shohat will serve as CEO until the board appoints a new CEO.

According to an announcement by NSO Group “will examine all aspects of its business, including streamlining its operations, to ensure the company remains one of the world’s leading high-tech cyber intelligence companies with a focus on NATO member countries”.

Redundancies are the result of a unacceptable, illegal and immoral business conduct, which systematically violated all privacy rights and compromised rather than promoted security. His most famous development, Pegasus, is rampant spyware that was sold to anyone who could afford it regardless of the consequences.

In addition, the company was aware that it had been used against thousands of citizens and companies that had nothing to do with terrorism and serious crime, supposedly the two exclusive uses it had to work on. You must know that Pegasus, once infiltrated, take full control of the devicesmartphones in particular, is the most well-known and once installed on the victim’s mobile, allows the attacker full access to messages, emails, media, microphone, camera, calls and contacts on the device.

The NSO Group: Rise and Fall

The US Department of Commerce has blacklisted NSO Group “evidence that this company developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments, which used these tools to maliciously target government officials, journalists, entrepreneurs, activists, academics, embassy staff and others”.

It was a reaction to the publication of the conclusions of Project Pegasus, the largest study on the scope of spyware, which confirmed all the allegations: “While the company claims its spyware is only for legitimate criminal and terrorist investigations, it’s clear that its technology facilitates systemic abuse. They paint an image of legitimacy while benefiting from widespread human rights abuses.”.

And the point is that NSO Group has been challenged for years by human rights groups such as Amnesty International, accusing it of selling its solutions to dictatorships that use them against political dissidents and as a means of censorship. Most shocking, though not unique, was its use against family members of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi before and after his assassination in Istanbul. Pegasus was also controversial for using exploits to break into Microsoft or Facebook products.

And that’s just what has been proven. Found by investigation 50,000 targets between 2016 and June 2021, including world leaders, politicians, human rights activists and at least 180 journalists from 20 countries as potential targets of this spyware.

Obviously, the actions of Pegasus (known as the NSO Group) raise questions about complete lack of regulation it has created a wild west of crude and unbridled attacks against everything that moves on the Internet, having nothing to do with crime and terrorism. “Until this company and the industry as a whole can demonstrate that it can respect human rights, there must be an immediate moratorium on the export, sale, transfer and use of surveillance technology.”., the groups of complainants requested.

As usual, under the umbrella of “security” All kinds of wrongdoing can be committed, illegal or illegal, but they have always been there. “The NSO group creates an image of legitimacy while profiting from widespread human rights abuses.” condemned by Amnesty International. That is the key to the matter.