Spyware maker NSO Group confirms acquisition by US investors

Israeli spyware maker NSO group TechCrunch confirms that a US investment group has earned.

NSO spokesperson Oded Harhotz told TechCrunch on Friday that “a group of American investment has invested millions of dollars in the company and gained controlling ownership.”

This agreement is guaranteed after the Israeli Tech News website Calcalist has reported On Friday, a team led by Hollywood producer Robert Simonds agreed to buy surveillance technology makers in a valuable value of several million dollars.

The amount of Harhoitz investment, as well as investors, refused to specify who.

“This investment does not mean that the company is out of Israeli regulatory or operational control,” said Harhotz. “The headquarters of the organization and the original operation remained in Israel. It is about to be completely supervised and controlled by the relevant Israeli authorities, including the Defense Ministry and Israeli Regulatory Structure.”

(After sending messages, Harhoitz declared his comments “out of the record”, for which both sides need to be agreed in advance conditions. TechCrunch is expressing reactions because there is no agreement.)

In 2023, The guardian has reported That Simonds and an associate, through their investment agency, were creating a bid to take control of the NSO. The deal was never implemented.

Calcalists say that the issue of involvement with NSO co-founder and executive chairman Omri Lavi’s spyware manufacturer will end as part of the new deal with Simonds.

Lavi did not immediately comment while contacting TechCrunch. Simonds or its Hollywood agency STX Entertainment does not respond to our comment request.

From US sanctions to US ownership

The NSO group has been controversial since the beginning.

Researchers from the Citizens Lab of Toronto, Amnesty International and others from Digital Rights Group, There have been dozens of cases documented over a few years Where NSO government customers have hacked journalists, dissatisfied and human rights guard between Hungary, India, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The NSO has long claimed that its spyware was designed not to target US phone numbers, perhaps not avoiding the possibilities of entering the US market. However Was caught in 2021 About a dozen US government officials target abroad.

Soon, The US Department of Trade is banned American companies start trading with the NSO, leaving spyware makers on the US entity list. There is NSO from that Tried to get down from the US government’s blocalist, As recently as 2025, with, with Assist in a lobbying firm Tied to the Trump administration.

John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the Lab, who has helped investigate the abuse of NSO Spywear for a decade, told Scott-Railton TechCrunch that he was concerned about acquiring.

“NSO is a company with a long history of going against American interests and supporting the hacking of American officials. In what world can this national person be trusted in order to properly monitor an organization like the NSO Group?” Scott-Railton says, refer to Simonds.

“Further, my real concern is that NSO has strictly tried to enter the United States and tried to sell their products to American police forces in the United States. This dictator technology is not included in the Americans, or gives us constitutionally protected[ed] Right or freedom. ”

NSO ownership has exchanged hands before.

Originally founded by NIV workers, Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavi, were NSO groups Earned By US Private Equity Farm Francisco Partners in 2014. Lady and hulio The company’s control recovery In 2019, the European Private Equity Farm with the help of Novalpina. Then, in 2021, the California -based Berkeley Research Group Adoption of management Fund In 2023, Lavi Control NSO as the majority owner.