White House “worried” over US takeover of NSO

On June 14 the White House said to itself. “Deep Concern” Planned Acquisition of the Israeli Company NSO Group by the US Group, Reveal it Washington Post, Defender And Harretz. NSO Group releases Pegasus spyware, designed to hack into the contents of a smartphone without its users noticing. In the summer of 2021, including the Media Federation The worldDozens of countries have used the software to illegally spy on lawyers, human rights activists, journalists or political opponents.

Ask more Pegasus: At the center of a global investigation into spying on phones

In November, the United States decided Collection of sentences Against an Israeli export licensing company for software. US companies should not buy or sell goods or services to the NSO Group; This type of permit is usually assigned to Iranian or Chinese companies.

The diversion of its software and the revelations about US sanctions have put the NSO Group in a very difficult economic situation. The company threatens to default on its estimated debt of 450 million euros. There was difficulty in paying salaries in the spring. According to Israeli newspapers, the owners of the NSO group, including Novelpina Capital Fund, sought to sell the company by evaluating its subsidiary, which specializes in drones.

This June 13, Intelligence online specialized site L3Harris, a U.S. defense firm that specializes in communications systems for the U.S. military, is in talks to acquire the NSO group. The company declined to comment on this information, it was “Speculations”.

Anti-spyware policy

The passage under the US flag of the NSO Group is in direct conflict with the policy pursued by the Biden administration in the matter of spyware. According to anonymous sources cited Washington PostThe Defender And HarretzThe US National Security Council has imposed a comprehensive ban on the purchase and sale of spyware. “Endangers national security or is misused abroad”.

Pegasus is designed with a software “lock” that prevents US phone numbers from being targeted. However, after the revelation of “Project Pegasus”, investigations by the country’s security services revealed that US diplomats were using phones from the country where they were stationed to spy on their “local” phones.