The publisher of the PEGASUS spyware had taken his position just before the announcement of American sanctions against the company.
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A discreet departure, twelve days after joining: Isaac Benbenisti, the brand new CEO of NSO Group, the Israeli company that publishes PEGASUS spyware, has announced its departure from society, reveals the daily Haaretz , Thursday, November 11th. This veteran of the Industry New Israeli technologies, which led for six years the Israeli Telephone Operator Partner, had joined NSO Group three months ago as vice-president, before being Named CEO of the company on October 31 .
NSO Group has been in the turmoil since the publication, in July, a series of revelations by a consortium of international drafting, including Le Monde. The investigation of the “Pegasus project” had shown that the very powerful spyware of the company was massively used to illegally spy on human rights activists, lawyers or journalists. In France, Emmanuel Macron and several members of the government have been targeted by Pegasus.
The company, which disputes some of the information of the “Pegasus project”, had announced on October 31 a major change in its direction: its founder and CEO, Shave Hulio, had left his executive duties to take the lead of the Council of Group administration and focus on enterprise trading projects in Tel Aviv. It had been replaced by Mr. Benbenisti.
Black List placement by the United States
Four days later, and to the general surprise, the American Commerce Department places NSO Group and its Candiru competitor on its blacklist of companies subject to significant export and import restrictions. On which include companies in the enemy countries of the United States, weapons sellers or hacking tools.
This placement sent a very strong signal to current or future customers, NSO Group. The US administration justified by the existence of “evidence” showing that Pegasus users have “maliciously targeted officials, journalists, businessmen, activists, academics and embassy employees” . Benbenisti has not publicly delivered explanation, but this American sanction has liked a role in its decision, both the placement on this black list complicates the continuation of the activity of NSO Group.
On 6 November, the Israeli government had also distancedrawed NSO Group, which has an export license validated by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, and whose unofficial links with the country’s security services are Well known – many employees of the company have been trained within the Israeli army division specializing in electronic intelligence. “NSO is a private company, it is not a government project and therefore, even if it is designated [by the US Department of Commerce], it has nothing to do with the Israeli government,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yaïr Lapid.
Two days later, a report from the Front Line Defenders organization, relying on technical analyzes conducted by the Deficient Laboratory of the University of Toronto specialized in spyware, revealed that the devices of several Palestinian activists human rights had been infected with Pegasus between July 2020 and April 2021.
According to the New York Times information, the Israeli government launched diplomatic approaches to attempt to remove NSO Group from the blacklist from the Commerce Department. But according to the Israeli press, this defense maneuver of the company does does not unanimity within the Israeli government.