{"id":46425,"date":"2022-04-29T12:33:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T12:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/packetstormsecurity.com\/news\/view\/33387\/Private-Equity-Executive-Sought-To-Undermine-NSO-Critics.html"},"modified":"2022-04-29T12:33:20","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T12:33:20","slug":"private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/","title":{"rendered":"Private Equity Executive Sought To Undermine NSO Critics"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

When Downing Street was recently named as the suspected victim of a phone hack by the United Arab Emirates<\/a> using the Israeli-made spyware, Pegasus, few were surprised at who was behind the discovery.<\/p>\n

The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto has for years been a thorn in the side of the NSO Group, deciphering the company\u2019s sophisticated hacking tools and \u2013 crucially \u2013 identifying victims of the spyware<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ron Deibert, the longtime director of the Canadian research group, is one of the world\u2019s leading experts on identifying digital threats against civil society.<\/p>\n

John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, is among a relatively small group of experts globally who can identify which iPhones and Android devices have been infected with Pegasus, and which government clients are likely to have been responsible.<\/p>\n

It is unsurprising, then, that the pair were an intense focus at Novalpina, the London-based private equity group which took over NSO Group in 2019,<\/a> and quickly sought to stem its reputation for enabling repressive governments to commit widespread human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

<\/gu-island><\/figure>\n

Using UK data protection laws, Deibert and Scott-Railton last year sought the personal data held on them by Novalpina. The results of their so-called subject access requests, recently shared with the Guardian, contain snippets of hundreds of emails and attachments that included their names.<\/p>\n

The released data, combined with information from other sources, sheds light on an apparent attempt by Novalpina partner Stephen Peel to gather information on and undermine Citizen Lab. In one case, he even reached out to George Soros<\/a>, whose foundation is an important Citizen Lab donor, and complained about the researchers.<\/p>\n

Peel, a former British Olympic rower, was the architect of a drive to \u201cestablish a new benchmark for transparency and respect for human rights<\/a>\u201d when Novalpina acquired NSO in early 2019.<\/p>\n

Citizen Lab, meanwhile, had since 2016 been at the forefront of exposing the human rights abuses perpetrated by NSO Group\u2019s customers, revealing, for example, how Saudi Arabia had used the company\u2019s spyware to hack the mobile phone of a dissident who was a close associate of Jamal Khashoggi<\/a> months before the journalist was murdered.<\/p>\n

Novalpina\u2019s lawyers said in letters released to Deibert and Scott-Railton that they found 473 emails that contained Deibert\u2019s personal data, which included some duplicates. 223 emails named Scott-Railton.<\/p>\n

They reveal how in February 2019, Novalpina and NSO retained the services of Vivek Krishnamurthy, who at the time was a lawyer with expertise in corporate social responsibility practice at the American law firm Foley Hoag. A source familiar with the matter said NSO paid the firm about $220,000 (\u00a3170,000) for its work.<\/p>\n

Krishnamurthy was recruited as a \u201cspecialist external adviser\u201d to align NSO\u2019s governance framework with the UN\u2019s guiding principles on business and human rights (UNGP).<\/p>\n

However, the documents suggest there may have been another motive as well: Krishnamurthy was an alumnus of the University of Toronto, and years earlier had worked as a research assistant for Deibert, who had helped him secure a Rhodes scholarship. As a result, he was well-placed to try to cosy up to the NSO critic.<\/p>\n

A February 2019 proposal by Foley Hoag to provide legal services to NSO said Krishnamurthy\u2019s prior relationship with Deibert meant he was in a \u201cunique position to conduct outreach to Citizen Lab should the NSO Group find it desirable to do so\u201d. The proposal acknowledged that NSO had \u201creputational challenges\u201d and said: \u201cOur goal is to help the NSO Group become seen as the world\u2019s most ethical company in the surveillance space by establishing systems, policies, and procedures to ensure that it operates in a rights-respecting manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a 1 March 2019 exchange, Peel emailed Krishnamurthy telling the lawyer it was time to \u201creach out to Deibert to find out what is going on\u201d. The lawyer promptly replied that he would, adding: \u201cHe can be prickly, and he\u2019s clearly worked up about NSO.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following day, Krishnamurthy sent an email to his former mentor, explaining he had been hired to work on NSO\u2019s human rights policies.<\/p>\n

He told Deibert he had \u201cthought long and hard\u201d about whether to work for NSO, especially in light of Citizen Lab\u2019s recent work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would probably have said no were it not for my good friend Sir Mark Stephens,\u201d he wrote, referring to the British lawyer \u2013 who is a CBE but not a knight \u2013 as \u201cone of the world\u2019s foremost human rights lawyers\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said Stephens, a celebrated British lawyer who frequently acts in high-profile cases, with former clients including Julian Assange, Salman Rushdie, and Greenpeace,<\/strong> had assured him of Peel\u2019s \u201cdeep personal commitment to human rights, and of his desire to see NSO operate in a rights-respecting manner\u201d.<\/p>\n

Deibert declined the meeting. He told the Guardian he did not believe NSO Group or its owners had shown good faith in responses to Citizen Lab\u2019s correspondence and questions, and did not wish to appear to legitimise the company.<\/p>\n

He also turned down an attempt three months later by Krishnamurthy to secure a face-to-face meeting with his old university mentor when \u2013 following an exchange with Peel informing him he would again seek out a meeting with Deibert \u2013 Krishnamurthy told Deibert by email that he wanted to see him while on family trip to Toronto: \u201cYou\u2019d be having a drink with me in my capacity as your former student, and not as anything else!\u201d<\/p>\n

Deibert said he found it \u201cdeeply troubling and disappointing\u201d that Novalpina had employed a former student and research assistant seemingly to \u201csurreptitiously weasel their way into gathering information on our activities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Krishnamurthy, a faculty member at the University of Ottawa who was recently appointed to a Canadian government advisory committee<\/a> on online safety, denied he was hired for that reason, but conceded that his prior relationship with Deibert was relevant for the work he could do for Novalpina \u201cas a good faith broker\u201d with the NGO community.<\/p>\n

He expressed \u201cregret\u201d that his work for NSO\u2019s financial backers damaged his relationship with Deibert, describing his work for for the company as \u201cthe weirdest matter I\u2019ve ever handled\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stephens, who described Peel as a friend, confirmed that he suggested Krishnamurthy to the Novalpina executive, but he said he was unaware at the time of Krishnamurthy\u2019s prior relationship with Deibert. He said he had previously worked for Peel, but not for Novalpina or NSO.<\/p>\n

Stephens praised Peel and criticised Citizen Lab for disproportionately focusing on NSO.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe practical result of what they [Citizen Lab] have done is to ignore and effectively divert attention from the other players in this marketplace and they have given them a completely free pass and I think that\u2019s reprehensible,\u201d Stephens said.<\/p>\n

Citizen Lab has, in fact, produced reports on a range of<\/a> other cyber surveillance companies<\/a>, and published reports on other digital threats to civil society, including Chinese government censorship and vulnerabilities in Covid-related applications<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Its work has attracted funding from the Ford Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations, which was created by the billionaire philanthropist George Soros. The Novalpina documents released to Deibert include one email from Soros\u2019s office that was forwarded by Peel to NSO in Israel.<\/p>\n

The document was redacted, but well-placed sources and other emails seen by the Guardian suggest the outreach to Soros may have been part of an ultimately unsuccessful attempt by Peel to undermine Citizen Lab\u2019s funding.<\/p>\n

In May 2019, Peel is understood to have raised Citizen Lab at a dinner with Soros in New York. He later followed up with emails in which he sought to discredit the Canadian research group.<\/p>\n

In one, he lambasted Citizen Lab\u2019s research, claiming it was \u201can organisation unknown except for its attack on NSO\u201d. He questioned the group\u2019s motivations, tactics, and objectives, which he described as \u201ca little less pure than we might of hoped\u201d.<\/p>\n

One person familiar with the matter said they believed Peel\u2019s unspoken aim could have been to get Soros to withhold his charity\u2019s financial support for the researchers. A second well-placed source said they could not judge Peel\u2019s motive, but they could not rule out that was his intention.<\/p>\n

Soros was ultimately unmoved by the criticism of Citizen Lab. A month after the dinner, the Hungarian-born billionaire advised Peel he should probably extricate himself from the NSO investment.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Peel said these were \u201ctenuous and unsubstantiated allegations\u201d and that Peel was committed to \u201cgood governance and human rights\u201d.<\/p>\n

Deibert said the documents suggested Novalpina\u2019s commitment to aligning NSO with human rights principles seemed to be a figleaf.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen enough of their obviously absurd denials in the face of evidence of abuse to understand they do not appear genuinely interested in human rights due diligence as much as making money and crafting a seemingly palatable public-facing image,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne can only conclude that the bottom line matters more than human rights for those lining their pockets from NSO Group\u2019s sales \u2013 including, their executives, owners, and high-priced lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krishnamurthy said in a written statement to the Guardian that he and his colleagues had believed when they were retained that Novalpina was serious about making \u201creal changes at NSO\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the NSO Group\u2019s subsequent record of complicity in gross human rights violations shows how wrong we were. I regret my brief time advising Novalpina in 2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Krishnamurthy added that he hoped leaders like Deibert and Citizen Lab would \u201csucceed in bringing NSO\u2019s extremely harmful activities to an end\u201d.<\/p>\n

A US consultancy called Berkeley Research Group (BRG) took over management of the fund that owns NSO last July after an internal dispute between the founding partners of Novalpina.<\/p>\n

READ MORE HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

READ MORE HERE…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[8805],"class_list":["post-46425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-packet-storm","tag-headlinegovernmentprivacyphoneisraelspyware"],"yoast_head":"\nPrivate Equity Executive Sought To Undermine NSO Critics 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Private Equity Executive Sought To Undermine NSO Critics 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-29T12:33:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/9cc41d792f8138c683c4f1cf583c74f50dfa905e\/0_93_3543_2127\/master\/3543.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=1d2b947ee6b004ac5f9073d5bdab6dbb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"TH Author\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@threatshub\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@threatshub\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"TH Author\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"TH Author\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/12e0a8671ff89a863584f193e7062476\"},\"headline\":\"Private Equity Executive Sought To Undermine NSO Critics\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-29T12:33:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1623,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i.guim.co.uk\\\/img\\\/media\\\/9cc41d792f8138c683c4f1cf583c74f50dfa905e\\\/0_93_3543_2127\\\/master\\\/3543.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=1d2b947ee6b004ac5f9073d5bdab6dbb\",\"keywords\":[\"headline,government,privacy,phone,israel,spyware\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Packet Storm\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\\\/\",\"name\":\"Private Equity Executive Sought To Undermine NSO Critics 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i.guim.co.uk\\\/img\\\/media\\\/9cc41d792f8138c683c4f1cf583c74f50dfa905e\\\/0_93_3543_2127\\\/master\\\/3543.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=1d2b947ee6b004ac5f9073d5bdab6dbb\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-29T12:33:20+00:00\",\"description\":\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i.guim.co.uk\\\/img\\\/media\\\/9cc41d792f8138c683c4f1cf583c74f50dfa905e\\\/0_93_3543_2127\\\/master\\\/3543.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=1d2b947ee6b004ac5f9073d5bdab6dbb\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i.guim.co.uk\\\/img\\\/media\\\/9cc41d792f8138c683c4f1cf583c74f50dfa905e\\\/0_93_3543_2127\\\/master\\\/3543.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=1d2b947ee6b004ac5f9073d5bdab6dbb\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"headline,government,privacy,phone,israel,spyware\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/tag\\\/headlinegovernmentprivacyphoneisraelspyware\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Private Equity Executive Sought To Undermine NSO Critics\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News\",\"description\":\"%%focuskw%% Threat Intel \u2013 Threat Intel Services \u2013 CyberIntelligence \u2013 Cyber Threat Intelligence - Threat Intelligence Feeds - Threat Intelligence Reports - CyberSecurity Report \u2013 Cyber Security PDF \u2013 Cybersecurity Trends - Cloud Sandbox \u2013- Threat IntelligencePortal \u2013 Incident Response \u2013 Threat Hunting \u2013 IOC - Yara - Security Operations Center \u2013 SecurityOperation Center \u2013 Security SOC \u2013 SOC Services - Advanced Threat - Threat Detection - TargetedAttack \u2013 APT \u2013 Anti-APT \u2013 Advanced Protection \u2013 Cyber Security Services \u2013 Cybersecurity Services -Threat Intelligence Platform\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Threatshub.org\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"ThreatsHub.org\",\"alternateName\":\"Threatshub.org\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Threatshub_Favicon1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Threatshub_Favicon1.jpg\",\"width\":432,\"height\":435,\"caption\":\"ThreatsHub.org\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/threatshub\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.threatshub.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/12e0a8671ff89a863584f193e7062476\",\"name\":\"TH Author\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/066276f086d5155df79c850206a779ad368418a844da0182ce43f9cd5b506c3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/066276f086d5155df79c850206a779ad368418a844da0182ce43f9cd5b506c3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/066276f086d5155df79c850206a779ad368418a844da0182ce43f9cd5b506c3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"TH Author\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Private Equity Executive Sought To Undermine NSO Critics 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News","description":"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Private Equity Executive Sought To Undermine NSO Critics 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News","og_description":"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/","og_site_name":"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News","article_published_time":"2022-04-29T12:33:20+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/9cc41d792f8138c683c4f1cf583c74f50dfa905e\/0_93_3543_2127\/master\/3543.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=1d2b947ee6b004ac5f9073d5bdab6dbb","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"TH Author","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@threatshub","twitter_site":"@threatshub","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"TH Author","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/"},"author":{"name":"TH Author","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/12e0a8671ff89a863584f193e7062476"},"headline":"Private Equity Executive Sought To Undermine NSO Critics","datePublished":"2022-04-29T12:33:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/"},"wordCount":1623,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/9cc41d792f8138c683c4f1cf583c74f50dfa905e\/0_93_3543_2127\/master\/3543.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=1d2b947ee6b004ac5f9073d5bdab6dbb","keywords":["headline,government,privacy,phone,israel,spyware"],"articleSection":["Packet Storm"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/","url":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/","name":"Private Equity Executive Sought To Undermine NSO Critics 2026 | ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/9cc41d792f8138c683c4f1cf583c74f50dfa905e\/0_93_3543_2127\/master\/3543.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=1d2b947ee6b004ac5f9073d5bdab6dbb","datePublished":"2022-04-29T12:33:20+00:00","description":"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News | ThreatsHub.org | Cloud Security & Cyber Threats Analysis Hub. 100% Free OSINT Threat Intelligent and Cybersecurity News.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/9cc41d792f8138c683c4f1cf583c74f50dfa905e\/0_93_3543_2127\/master\/3543.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=1d2b947ee6b004ac5f9073d5bdab6dbb","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/9cc41d792f8138c683c4f1cf583c74f50dfa905e\/0_93_3543_2127\/master\/3543.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=1d2b947ee6b004ac5f9073d5bdab6dbb"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/private-equity-executive-sought-to-undermine-nso-critics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"headline,government,privacy,phone,israel,spyware","item":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/tag\/headlinegovernmentprivacyphoneisraelspyware\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Private Equity Executive Sought To Undermine NSO Critics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/","name":"ThreatsHub Cybersecurity News","description":"%%focuskw%% Threat Intel \u2013 Threat Intel Services \u2013 CyberIntelligence \u2013 Cyber Threat Intelligence - Threat Intelligence Feeds - Threat Intelligence Reports - CyberSecurity Report \u2013 Cyber Security PDF \u2013 Cybersecurity Trends - Cloud Sandbox \u2013- Threat IntelligencePortal \u2013 Incident Response \u2013 Threat Hunting \u2013 IOC - Yara - Security Operations Center \u2013 SecurityOperation Center \u2013 Security SOC \u2013 SOC Services - Advanced Threat - Threat Detection - TargetedAttack \u2013 APT \u2013 Anti-APT \u2013 Advanced Protection \u2013 Cyber Security Services \u2013 Cybersecurity Services -Threat Intelligence Platform","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Threatshub.org","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"ThreatsHub.org","alternateName":"Threatshub.org","url":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/coredata\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Threatshub_Favicon1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/coredata\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Threatshub_Favicon1.jpg","width":432,"height":435,"caption":"ThreatsHub.org"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/threatshub"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/12e0a8671ff89a863584f193e7062476","name":"TH Author","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/066276f086d5155df79c850206a779ad368418a844da0182ce43f9cd5b506c3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/066276f086d5155df79c850206a779ad368418a844da0182ce43f9cd5b506c3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/066276f086d5155df79c850206a779ad368418a844da0182ce43f9cd5b506c3d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"TH Author"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}