Israel’s NSO is considering shutting down its Pegasus Production Unit
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Roshan Amiri
- . December 14, 2021
- . Update: December 15, 2021 12:13 am
Israel–Informed sources said, on Monday, that the Israeli company, NSO, which specializes in making spyware, is studying options, including closing its controversial unit ‘Pegasus‘ and selling the company entirely as the company facing a default on its debts and has held talks about its future options with a number of investment funds, according to Bloomberg Agency. One of the sources said that among the potential buyers of the Israeli group are two American funds that discussed the acquisition and closing of Pegasus.
One of the sources added that under this scenario, the two funds would inject $200 million in new capital to turn Pegasus into a completely defensive cybersecurity service, and possibly develop the company’s drone technology.
The US authorities have placed the NSO, which is behind the infamous Pegasus spyware industry, on a blacklist of entities whose trade is being restricted. Apple also sued it to prevent it from using spyware on Apple products.
A statement from the Department of Commerce said the NSO Group has engaged in ‘activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.’
A week ago, Israel’s Ministry of Defense stated that after the Pegasus scandal intensified, countries interested in purchasing its electronic technology would have to commit to using it only to prevent terrorist acts and a limited list of serious crimes. There were also reports last month that Israel reduced the list of countries eligible to purchase its electronic technology.
NSO denies wrongdoing, saying it only sells its tools to governments and law enforcement agencies to combat criminals and terrorists, and has established protective measures to prevent the abuse of Pegasus.
