According to Israeli media, the CEO-designate of the Israeli NSO Group has resigned, citing the spyware company's blacklisting by the US Commerce Department last week. The NSO Group declined to comment. 

Isaac Benbenisti, an NSO Group co-president, was named for the top role on Oct. 31 but was yet to assume the position.

NSO blacklisted

After media reports emerged about Pegasus' usage in various spyware attacks on heads of states, journalists, political activists, and human rights activists, the US decided to blacklist NSO, Pegasus' parent company.

Pegasus has also "enabled foreign governments to conduct translational repression, which is the practice of authoritarian governments targeting dissidents, journalists, and activists outside of their sovereign borders to silence dissent," the US Commerce Department said in a statement.

Pegasus

Leaked data about Israeli NSO Group-developed spyware, Pegasus, revealed that there are more than 50,000 records of phone numbers that NSO clients selected for surveillance since 2016.

Through the leaks and the investigations carried out by Forbidden Stories and its media partners, the NGO and its partners were able to identify potential NSO clients in 11 countries: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Togo, and the United Arab Emirates.

This scandal prompted international and human rights organizations, news agencies, the European Union, and governments from all over the world to condemn the practices and policies of NSO.