An Israeli company named NSO Group is reportedly behind the hacking tool for iPhones that forced Apple to issue a critical software update on Thursday.
The tool was apparently discovered in a hacking attempt on a human rights activist in the United Arab Emirates, but details on the ultra-secretive company are hard to come by.
That’s because NSO Group sells sophisticated hacking tools to governments, militaries, and intelligence agencies — and it tries to keep such a low profile it even changes its name on a regular basis.
Its profile is likely to be raised in the wake of in-depth research by Lookout Security and Citizen Lab’s Bill Marczak and John Scott-Railton, who exposed a major iOS security flaw that allows an attacker to take full control of an iPhone using nothing more than a text message.
NSO Group cofounders Omri Lavie and Shalev Hulio did not respond to a request for comment.
Here’s what we know so far.
NSO Group was founded in late 2009 by serial entrepreneurs with ties to the Israeli government.
Headquartered in Herzelia, Israel, NSO Group was founded in Dec. 2009 by Omri Lavie and Shalev Hulio, according to both cofounders’ LinkedIn profiles, which show they are both serial entrepreneurs who had previously started a number of other companies in Israel. A third founder, Niv Carmi, left the company shortly after its inception and left Lavie and Hulio as majority shareholders.
The San Francisco-based private equity firm Francisco Partners acquired a majority stake in NSO for $120 million in 2014, though its operations remain in Israel.
Hulio says on his LinkedIn profile he was a company commander with the Israel Defense Forces, while Lavie says he was an employee of the Israeli government.
At least three of its current employees claim to have worked in Unit 8200, Israel’s version of the US National Security Agency.