Khashoggi Link

In December, Omar Abdulaziz, an online critic of Saudi Arabia who lives in Canada, filed a lawsuit against NSO in Israel claiming the company’s software enabled the kingdom to hack his phone and track his communications with Khashoggi. Those communications, according to the lawsuit, contributed to the decision to kill Khashoggi.

“Abdulaziz’s suit makes a number of false claims,” an NSO spokeswoman said via email. “NSO technology has helped stop vicious crimes and deadly terrorist attacks around the world,” she said, adding that “if we determine there is a risk for our technology being used for anything other than the prevention or investigation of terrorism and crime, we do not license it. If we find or suspect misuse, we retain the right to shut down the system.”

NSO co-founder and CEO Shalev Hulio has said that the firm’s technology was not used on Khashoggi or his relatives, and that the company has identified only three cases of misuse in its history.

Founded in 2010, NSO sells its products exclusively to government intelligence and law enforcement agencies, according to its website. The firm’s software is used by countries including Mexico and Brazil, and NSO says it supports the national security priorities of Israel, the U.S. and Europe.

Pegasus -- said to be capable of spiriting data from just about any smartphone -- is such a powerful tool that it’s licensed to foreign governments only with the approval of Israel’s Ministry of Defense, similar to an arms deal.

A representative for the Defense Ministry couldn’t be reached during a public holiday Tuesday in Israel.

‘Highly Targeted’

The company was bought by private equity firm Francisco Partners in 2014. It has about 600 employees operating primarily out of Israel, Bulgaria and Cyprus, and has more than 60 customers in over 35 countries, according to Moody’s Investors Service. In 2018, NSO reported revenues of $251 million.

Novalpina Capital, a European private equity firm founded in 2017 by three former TPG Capital executives, acquired a majority stake in NSO as part of the buyout, which valued the company at about $1 billion, said the people familiar. Novalpina closed its first fund last month with total commitments in excess of 1 billion euros.