{"id":1452722,"date":"2024-01-18T21:48:28","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T21:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=457770"},"modified":"2024-01-18T21:48:28","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T21:48:28","slug":"in-video-from-gaza-former-ceo-of-pegasus-spyware-firm-announces-millions-for-new-venture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/01\/18\/in-video-from-gaza-former-ceo-of-pegasus-spyware-firm-announces-millions-for-new-venture\/","title":{"rendered":"In Video From Gaza, Former CEO of Pegasus Spyware Firm Announces Millions for New Venture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
It was an unusual<\/u> place for a tech company to announce a successful $33 million round of venture capital fundraising. But, on November 7, former NSO Group CEO Shalev Hulio and two colleagues stood in the Gaza Strip, stared into a laptop\u2019s built-in webcam, and did exactly that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are here on the Gaza border,\u201d said Hulio, the Israeli entrepreneur, on a little-noted YouTube video released by his new start-up, Dream Security. Hulio, a reservist who had been called up for duty, appeared in the video with a gun slung over his shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s very emotional,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter all of us being here, some of us reserves, some of us helping the government in many other ways, I think that doing it here is a great message to the high-tech community and the people of Israel.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hulio, who stepped down from his role at NSO in August 2022, was sending a clear signal: He was back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a rocky few years, marred by revelations<\/a> about the role of NSO\u2019s spyware in human rights abuses and the company\u2019s blacklisting by the U.S. government, Hulio and his team were using the moment \u2014 timed exactly one month after Hamas\u2019s attack \u2014 to announce lofty ambitions for their new cybersecurity firm, Dream Security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIsraeli high-tech is not only here to stay, but will grow better out of this,\u201d said Michael Eisenberg, an Israeli American venture capitalist and Dream co-founder, in the promo video. \u201cIt\u2019s going to deliver on time, wherever it’s needed, to whatever country or whatever company it’s needed at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Their new project is another cybersecurity company. Instead of phone hacking, though, Dream \u2014 an acronym for \u201cDetect, Respond, and Management\u201d \u2014 offers cyber protection for so-called critical infrastructure, such as energy installations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dream Security builds on the successful team NSO put together, with talent brought on board from the embattled spyware firm. At least a dozen of NSO\u2019s top officials and staffers, along with an early investor in both NSO and Dream, followed Hulio to Dream since its founding last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lawyers for Dream Security who responded to The Intercept\u2019s request for comment said the companies were distinct entities. \u201cThe only connection between the two entities is Mr. Hulio and a small portion of talented employees who previously worked at NSO Group,\u201d said Thomas Clare, a lawyer for Dream, in a letter. Liron Bruck, a spokesperson for NSO Group, told The Intercept, \u201cThe two companies are not involved in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, with so many NSO people gathered under a new banner, critics are concerned that their old firm\u2019s scandals will be forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s worrying,\u201d said Natalia Krapiva, tech-legal counsel at Access Now, a digital rights advocacy group. \u201cIt seems like a new way to whitewash NSO\u2019s image and past record.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n At the same time, NSO Group is also using Israel\u2019s war effort<\/a> to try and revamp its own reputation. After Pegasus, NSO’s phone hacking software<\/a>, was exposed for its role<\/a> in human rights abuses<\/a> and the firm was blacklisted in the U.S., the company suffered years of financial troubles. In the new year, it seemed to be bouncing back, with Israeli media reporting<\/a> on its expansion and reorganization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clare, Dream\u2019s lawyer, stressed that Hulio was no longer affiliated with NSO. \u201cCurrently, Mr. Hulio holds no interest in NSO Group\u2014not as an officer, employee, or stockholder,\u201d Clare wrote to The Intercept. \u201cSince Dream Security\u2019s foundation in late 2022, he has exclusively led the company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Hulio at its helm, Dream boasts an eclectic and influential leadership team with connections to various far-right figures in Israel, Europe, and the U.S. \u2014 and an ambitious plan to leverage their ties to dominate the cybersecurity sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s worrying. It seems like a new way to whitewash NSO\u2019s image and past record.\u201d<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n