The owner of the Israeli NSO Group, which makes the spyware called Pegasus, does not hold his company responsible for the continued use of the program.
„Our platform saves lives and prevents terrorist attacks.”
— Shalev Hulio, one of the company’s founders and CEO, said in an interview on one of Israel’s commercial radio stations on Tuesday morning in defense of spyware.
Hulio explained that his company does not know the list of people spied on with his software. When they formed their company, they decided to sell their products only to governments, not to individuals. Moreover, not all governments, he added, as there are some that are not worthy of using such a tool.
„In the past 11 years, we have sold it to 45 countries, but denied it to 90 others.”
— the businessman explained.
„Unlike a weapon, which cannot be controlled after its sale, we have mechanisms that detect when a government buys a system and then abuses it, using it to surveil journalists, human rights activists, and regime opponents.”
— Hulio explained. He also drew attention to the fact that
there were governments to which they sold the software and then blocked its use and stopped cooperating with them.
All of this was published in a transparency report, the businessman stressed.
According to Hulio, Israeli regulations are the most advanced in the world in all aspects of cyber control, better than in Europe, and there are specific restrictions on who you can sell your product to and what restrictions you can place on it.
„Our devices have prevented terrorist attacks in Europe in recent years, saving tens of thousands of people from an attack on a metro in a European capital, an attack that was avoided just a few minutes before the incident.”
— the Israeli businessman said.
