Hollywood exec and former Trump bankruptcy lawyer aim to restore trust in Pegasus

Will a one-time Trump lawyer and the executive producer of the 2016 film “Bad Moms” improve the reputation of Israel’s NSO Group?

The Israeli spyware firm NSO Group, maker of the controversial Pegasus surveillance software, has announced new ownership and leadership in a bid to restore its image.

NSO’s new executive chairman, David Friedman, a former US ambassador to Israel and once President Trump’s bankruptcy lawyer, told the Wall Street Journal that he aims to rebuild NSO’s business in the United States.

Friedman said he hoped the US market could use the company’s surveillance technology to “achieve a safer world,” adding that NSO is now “far more careful in how it licenses its technology than it was five or six years ago.”

The company’s reputation was severely damaged after revelations that Pegasus was used to spy on journalists, human rights activists, and even US officials.

Why Pegasus is controversial

Pegasus can infiltrate smartphones through “zero-click” attacks, giving operators access to messages, files, the camera, and the microphone without any action from the target.

In 2021, the Biden administration blacklisted NSO, barring it from obtaining certain US technologies. Two years later, Biden issued an executive order banning federal agencies from using commercial spyware linked to human rights abuses or national security risks.

Despite attempts to diversify, NSO has continued to focus on Pegasus.

Intelligence agencies such as the NSA and GCHQ use comparable hacking tools, but NSO sells its technology to governments that lack the know-how.

Nearly 100 countries, including authoritarian regimes, have acquired similar spyware, according to the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center.

Friedman said he hopes to attract US law enforcement agencies as customers. To date, the FBI has confirmed that it has tested Pegasus but insists it never used it operationally.

Legal and technical challenges

However, NSO continues to face major lawsuits. In 2019, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and WhatsApp, sued NSO for allegedly breaching its servers to install spyware.

A California jury ordered NSO to pay $168 million in damages in July 2024, which was later reduced to $4 million. However, the court also banned the company from targeting WhatsApp, a move NSO said in its defense could threaten its future.

Israel remains a leading source of advanced spyware, with companies like Paragon Solutions developing tools such as Graphite, another zero-click surveillance system.

For users, detection is becoming more difficult. While tools from Amnesty International and iVerify can spot Pegasus infections, Cybernews reported last month how Apple’s iOS 26 update now rewrites key system logs after each reboot, erasing traces that could reveal older Pegasus or Predator activity.

Fortunately, there are effective steps you can take to minimize these dangers and remove spyware from your iPhone. Moreover, a reliable antivirus can help you detect spyware and remove it

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