Israeli cyber technology company NSO, maker of the controversial Pegasus spyware, announced on Sunday:reorganizationits operations, the departure of its CEO and its desire to refocus its sales on NATO member states. “NSO Group today announces the company’s restructuring and the departure of CEO Shalev Julio, who is being replaced by current COO Yaron Shohat, who will lead the restructuring.“, the company said in a press release sent to AFP.
According to Israeli specialized press, NSO plans to lay off about 100 of its 700 employees as part of this restructuring. NSS did not confirm these numbers, but noted.simplify operations” in order to “to remain one of the world’s largest cyber technology companies“and focus its sales”NATO member countries“. In the summer of 2021, NSO came under the spotlight after a media consortium revealed that the phone numbers of at least 180 journalists, 600 politicians, 85 human rights activists and another 65 business leaders had been spied on by the Pegasus software.
This computer tool, which is considered to be “armed» by the Israel Defense Forces, which must give the green light for its export, allows, for example, to remotely activate smartphone cameras and microphones. NSO reiterates since these revelations and subsequent revelations that it has obtained licenses to export its software, and that the latest, designed to fight terrorism and crime, may have been.distractedits use by certain customers. But the revelations and the group’s pre-contracted debt have cut into its cash flow, threatening the survival of the leading Israeli cyber-tech firm, according to court documents seen by AFP earlier this year.
The documents reported an internal battle over which countries the group should sell its technology to, with some lenders saying they were not opposed to selling it to countries called “high riskbecause of their human rights activities to avoid losing money. According to the documents, Berkeley Research Group (BRG), an American management company that owns a majority of the group’s shares, opposed it, claiming NSO’s priority to get off the US blacklist of companies that threaten state security. posted in November.
“The company is restructuring to prepare for its next wave of growth. And Yaron (Shohat) is the right man at the right timeoutgoing CEO and co-founder Shalev Julio said in a statement. “NSO will ensure that its advanced technologies are used in a fair and creditable manneradded new CEO Yaron Shohat, who joined the company in 2018.
Source: Le Figaro
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