The Mystery behind the Spyware company NSO

NSO Group Technologies (NSO standing for Niv, Shalev and Omri, the names of the company's founders) is an Israeli technology firm primarily known for its proprietary spyware Pegasus, which is capable of remote zero-click surveillance of smartphones. It was founded in 2010 by Niv Karmi, Omri Lavie, and Shalev Hulio. It employed almost 500 people as of 2017, and is based in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, Israel.

NSO Group has several subsidiaries by the name of Q Cyber Technologies group of companies. It is positioned as a global leader in the world of cyber-intelligence, data acquisition, and analysis. Q Cyber Technologies is the name the NSO Group uses in Israel, OSY Technologies in Luxembourg-based subsidiary of NSO Group in North America, holder of intellectual properties and it has a subsidiary formerly known as Westbridge.

It has operated through several companies around the world to expand its presence. The Pegasus spyware is classified as a weapon by Israel and any export of the technology must be approved by the government. With the help of the subsidiaries the company has made its footstep strong across the globe and it has been proved that the NSO iPhone malware builds a computer inside the memory of an iPhone to steal data, allowing attackers to snoop and steal data.

The software is capable of stealing sensitive data and sitting undetected for months or even years, researchers at Google have revealed. Hence, industry says that any country possessing the software has come with the consent of the respective governments.

Pegasus allows a user to read data from smartphones and spy via their microphones and cameras. The spyware was used to attack a small number of Apple users worldwide with dangerous malware and spyware and it is one of the most powerful and concerning to date, according to security experts. Apple filed a lawsuit against NSO Group and its parent company to hold it accountable for the surveillance and targeting Apple users.

The complaint provides new information on how NSO Group infected victims’ devices with its Pegasus spyware. To prevent further abuse and harm to its users, Apple is also seeking a permanent injunction to ban NSO Group from using any Apple software, services, or devices. “State-sponsored actors like the NSO Group spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without effective accountability. “That needs to change,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Apple devices are the most secure consumer hardware on the market — but private companies developing state-sponsored spyware have become even more dangerous.

While these cybersecurity threats only impact a very small number of our customers, we take any attack on our users very seriously, and we’re constantly working to strengthen the security and privacy protections in iOS to keep all our users safe.” Finally, any technology made by the machine or the human being can break.

Deepak Sahu, President & CEO, VARINDIA