The NSO Group, Israel’s darling of malware infection and surveillance for the global security market, was the brainchild of three engineers drawn from that busiest of cyber outfits in the Israeli Defense Forces known as Unit 8200. Niv Carmi, Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie, have certainly made an impression since they founded their technology company in 2010.

The unmistakable impression from the group is its dazzling amorality. There is literally no government it will not add to its lists for supply, no wallet it will not empty with satisfaction. The jewel in the supply chain has, for the most part, been its Pegasus spyware, which NSO claims is used exclusively to “investigate terrorism and crime”.

Despite such a lofty assertion, this dainty infectious number has found its way into the surveillance armoury of various states and clients who regard human rights defenders, journalists and dissidents as worthy of targeting. Most notoriously, it was taken up by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which used it to eavesdrop on calls between the late dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Omar........

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