Security News > 2023 > May > Pegasus-pusher NSO gets new owner keen on the commercial spyware biz

Spyware maker NSO Group has a new ringleader, as the notorious biz seeks to revamp its image amid new reports that the company's Pegasus malware is targeting yet more human rights advocates and journalists.

The new owner is a Luxembourg-based holding firm called Dufresne Holdings controlled by NSO co-founder Omri Lavie, according to the report.

Corporate filings now list Dufresne Holdings as the sole shareholder of NSO parent company NorthPole.

Dufresne Holdings has removed "a number of directors and officers" across NSO and is involved in the company's day-to-day management, the Wall Street Journal added, An NSO spokesperson told The Register that "The company is managed directly by our CEO, Yaron Shohat. The lenders are currently in a process of restructuring the shareholders."

While the company has faced criticism due to its Pegasus spyware implant, US and European officials over the past couple of years have cracked down on NSO in particular, and commercial spyware in general.

Reports keep emerging about Pegasus and other surveillance technologies being used in ways that decidedly violate NSO's claims that it only sells the malware to legitimate government agencies "For the purpose of preventing and investigating terrorism and other serious crimes."

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/05/30/nso_owner_hacking/