’Israeli’ Spyware Maker NSO in Talks to Be Sold to US Military Firm

By Staff, Agencies 

The “Israeli” spyware firm NSO is in talks to be sold to the US military contractor L3Harris, a number of sources with knowledge of the deal in “Israel” and the US have said.

The deal is yet to be finalized and still needs to be approved by “Israel”, the US and L3Harris’ board of directors. The White House is currently concerned by any possible deal, a senior official said.

This story was jointly reported by Haaretz, The Washington Post and The Guardian, and confirms parts of a report published in Intelligence Online published on Tuesday.

NSO is infamous for producing the controversial Pegasus spyware, which can hack mobile phones and provide client operators – in the form of states or national intelligence agencies – full access to the targets' devices, including through the use of so-called “zero-click” attacks.

This comes as the US Department of Commerce blacklisted NSO last November after it was revealed the phones of US officials in Africa were targeted using Pegasus, with the hacking likely being the work of one of NSO’s clients.

The move also came after the Project Pegasus investigative journalist consortium, led by Paris-based NGO Forbidden Stories, published a string of reports revealing the misuse of the “Israeli” Pegasus spyware by regimes across the world.

According to sources who spoke to Haaretz, The Washington Post and The Guardian, if approved, the deal could see NSO removed from the US Department of Commerce's blacklist – either directly, or by having its assets bought by L3Harris, which will only work with the U.S. and its allies.

The deal, sources said, will include NSO’s client base in the so-called Five Eyes – an alliance of intelligence agencies comprising the US, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand – as well as those in Europe and possibly other NATO countries.

It will also include NSO’s software and some of its workers who are seen as key to the firm’s ability to continue to hack mobile devices over time even as firms like Apple and Google work to patch the vulnerabilities Pegasus and other types of spyware exploit to gain access to encrypted devices.