The appointed CEO of the Israeli NSO Group, which developed the Pegasus spy program, decided to step down, at a time when the group was facing difficulties, including the United States adding it to the list of banned companies, according to AFP.
This comes while a Palestinian official announced, on Thursday, that the smartphones of "three officials" in the Palestinian Foreign Ministry had been hacked.
On Monday, human rights groups announced that the Israeli authorities had hacked the smartphones of six Palestinian activists working for Palestinian non-governmental organizations, which the Israeli government has recently designated as "terrorist".
A source close to the Israeli group told AFP that Yitzhak Benbesti decided to step down after he announced last week his appointment as the new CEO to succeed Shalev Hulio, who was scheduled to become the company's global president and vice chairman of its board.
According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, "Due to the crisis with the United States (...) Shalev decided to remain in the position of CEO."
On November 3, the US authorities announced the addition of the group to the list of banned companies, stressing that "these tools enabled foreign governments to exercise cross-border repression."
Washington also targeted the Israeli company Kandero, a computer security consultancy based in Singapore, and Russia's Positive Technologies.
The addition of the companies to the "Entity List" means that US institutions are prohibited from doing business with them. For example, it is now difficult for US researchers to sell her information or technology.
This summer, NSO found itself at the center of a global spying scandal after an investigation published by 17 international media outlets as of July 18 revealed that the Pegasus program, designed by the Israeli company, allowed spying on at least 180 journalists, 600 political figures and 85 human rights activists. And 65 company owners in several countries.
Once downloaded to a mobile phone, Pegasus allows spying on the phone user by viewing messages, data, photos, contacts, and remotely activating the microphone and camera.
The Israeli company insists that its software is intended for use only "to combat terrorism" and other crimes.
And Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in statements, Saturday, that the group is "a private company and not a government project," explaining that the company "has nothing to do with the policies of the Israeli government."
0 Comments