NSO Group CEO Yaron Shohat, appointed in August 2022, acknowledges clients sometimes misused Pegasus, but defends giving the tools to police and intel agencies
Yaron Shohat acknowledges mistakes but defends the technology as vital — WASHINGTON—Embattled Israeli technology firm NSO Group acknowledged …
Context & Ripple Effects
NSO Group's public posture has been shifting for two years: in 2021 the company insisted that 'all the finger-pointing should be at the customer,' comparing itself to a car maker whose clients drive drunk, even as Israeli officials opened an investigation into Pegasus abuse at its Tel Aviv office (finger-pointing-at-the-customer defense; Israeli probe). By mid-2022 its general counsel was conceding 'mistakes' to EU lawmakers (Gelfand's EU testimony).
Now Yaron Shohat, installed as CEO in August 2022 to steady the firm, goes further than his predecessors: he admits clients sometimes misused Pegasus while still defending sales to police and intelligence agencies. The admission lands on a company already strained — it was found liable for the 2019 attack on more than 1,400 WhatsApp users, ordered to pay $167 million, and its own CEO describes it as struggling to keep its head above water.
First-order effects
- Shohat's acknowledgment breaks with the company's earlier car-maker analogy and hands critics — including the EU lawmakers NSO already testified before — a formal admission of customer misuse to cite.
- The defense of police and intelligence clients keeps those agencies as the core buyer base, but each now carries documented reputational and legal exposure tied to past abuse.
Second-order effects
- Israel's export-licensing regime, which treats Pegasus as a weapon and made it a tool of Israeli diplomatic outreach, faces pressure to tighten approvals since the vendor itself now concedes misuse happened.
- Rivals and buyers in the commercial-spyware market must price in litigation risk: the WhatsApp verdict shows a single abusive campaign can produce nine-figure judgments against the vendor.
Third-order effects
- If vendors keep absorbing liability for customer conduct, the commercial spyware industry is pushed toward either state-controlled procurement or consolidation around firms that can survive court-ordered damages — a structural win for oversight regimes over open-market sales.
The trend: Commercial spyware vendors are being forced from denial to managed accountability, with courts and export regulators — not marketing claims — setting the terms of who may buy intrusion tools.