NSO Group CEO resigns and 100 employees laid off

Shalev Hulio is the second NSO Group CEO to resign in less than a year.

Shalev Hulio, the CEO and co-founder of Israel's NSO Group, has resigned from his position as part of a reorganisation that will also see about 100 employees laid off.

Hulio has left his position with immediate effect, with chief operating officer Yaron Shohat named as interim CEO until the board picks a successor.

Media reports claim Hulio will stay with the company to oversee mergers and acquisitions.

"Today is a sad day in NSO Group. After a difficult period with a lot of obstacles and challenges, the company is forced to part with over a hundred employees," one worker, a team leader named Guy Dalal, wrote on LinkedIn.

Hulio is NSO's second CEO to step down in less than a year. Itzik Benbenisti resigned from his position on 11th November last year, just two weeks after being hired. The decision was made after the US Department of Commerce blacklisted the company.

NSO has been embroiled in scandal since last July, when a group of media organisations, collectively known as the Pegasus Project, revealed extensive use of the company's Pegasus software to spy on journalists and activists worldwide.

Pegasus allows users to activate the camera and microphone on their target's private devices without their knowledge.

Although NSO claims that it sells spyware only to 'vetted governments', the Pegasus Project revealed that a number of countries used it to target journalists, dissidents, academics, diplomats, and members of civil society.

NSO's spyware was also reportedly used to track journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was later murdered by Saudi intelligence agents.

The Pegasus Project also revealed that a list of people chosen as potential surveillance targets included French president Emmanuel Macron and almost all of his cabinet.

The US government placed NSO Group on a trade blacklist last November. The US Department of Commerce said NSO's tools allowed foreign governments to target dissidents, journalists and activists in an attempt to silence dissent.

Since that time, NSO has been actively working to remove itself from the blacklist via lobbying efforts. It has been revealed that NSO attempted to put the matter on the agenda in a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and US President Joe Biden in Jerusalem last month.

The spyware firm is also facing legal action from firms like Apple and Meta, who claim that NSO's actions violate US law.