‘Israeli’ NSO Fires 100 Workers, CEO to Step Down

By Staff, Agencies

NSO Group, the ‘Israeli’ offensive cyber firm known for its infamous Pegasus spyware, is laying off about 100 workers and replacing its CEO, a company spokesperson confirmed.

CEO Shalev Hulio, one of NSO's three co-founders, is stepping down from his position and will now focus on finding a buyer for the firm after a deal to sell it to the American military contractor L3Harris fell through, due to opposition from both American and ‘Israeli’ officials. Yaron Shohat, who was chief operating officer, will take Hulio's place.

NSO said that it would also be letting go of about 100 of its 750 workers – about 13 percent of its staff.

The cyber firm claims that it expects to finish this year with a revenue of $150 million, but it has been in dire financial straits since the US Department of commerce blacklisted it last November, after it came to light that some African states used Pegasus software to spy on US State Department officials in Africa.

Attempts by NSO to be removed from the US blacklist have thus far been unsuccessful. A few months ago, the company began to move ahead in a deal to sell NSO to a US security corporation, which would make it into an American entity and allow it to be removed from the list. The deal with contractor L3Harris, which was supported by some members of the US intelligence community, fell through because of opposition from both the Tel Aviv regime and Washington.