More than a decade after Francisco Partners acquired NSO for $100m, Israel’s Central District Court ruled the deal was structured through a shelf company as an “artificial transaction” designed to move funds up the corporate chain while illegitimately avoiding tax. www.themarker.com/technation/2...

המחוזי: רכישת עבר של NSO בוצעה באמצעות "עסקה מלאכותית", כדי להתחמק ממס

לפני יותר מעשור רכשה קרן פרנסיסקו פרטנרס את NSO תמורת 100 מיליון דולר, אך עשתה זאת באמצעות שרשור חברות ■ בית המשפט המחוזי קבע כי הרכישה באמצעות "חברת מדף" ישראלית נעשתה כדי שיהיה ניתן להעלות את הכסף ב...

themarker.com

🇧🇭Bahrain cannot claim state immunity to block a spyware ‌lawsuit brought in 🇬🇧Britain by two dissidents, the United Kingdom's top court ruled by a majority on Monday, in a ruling one judge warned would put Britain in breach of international law. www.reuters.com/world/bahrai...

Bahrain loses bid to block dissidents' spyware lawsuit in UK

Bahrain cannot claim state immunity to block a spyware ‌lawsuit brought in Britain by two dissidents, the United Kingdom's top court ruled by a majority on Monday, in a ruling one judge warned would p...

reuters.com

In a new letter to 🇺🇸ICE Acting Director David Venturella, Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) is demanding documents on the agency’s use of Paragon Solutions’ Graphite #spyware, including its legal basis, deployment, & safeguards for Americans’ privacy and civil liberties. www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/dems/p...

A decade after their most famous hack, Phineas Fisher remains, by most accounts, the most prolific and public hacker never to have been caught, writes @lorenzofb.bsky.social. techcrunch.com/2026/07/25/t...

The hacker who humiliated spyware makers and was never caught | TechCrunch

An awe-inspiring hacktivist who hacked two controversial government spyware makers may be the most prolific hacker to have never gotten caught. What do we know about Phineas Fisher?

techcrunch.com

Zero-day startup Paradigm Shift took down the blog post and corresponding Proof-of-Concept code for the iPhone flaw they dubbed Usbliter8. Takedown comes following a judge order in the lawsuit filed by Magnet Forensics, which alleges a former employee now at the startup stole the flaw.

NEW: I spoke to several offensive cybersecurity researchers, including zero-day developers, about how the guardrails imposed by OpenAI and Anthropic on AI models are impeding their work. Most complained the guardrails are inconsistent and too strict, which pushes them to use open source models.

How AI guardrails are impeding the work of offensive cybersecurity researchers | TechCrunch

We spoke with several cybersecurity researchers, who look for unknown vulnerabilities and develop tools to exploit them, about how OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s guardrails affect their work.

techcrunch.com

NSO Group spent at least $67,500 on lobbying 🇺🇸Congress and U.S. federal agencies in Q1 and Q2 of 2026, through its executive chairman, David Friedman – the former US ambassador to Israel – according to the latest lobbying disclosure filings.

Policymakers can learn from the #spyware industry as they begin to construct policies to curb the use of frontier AI models to develop offensive cyber capabilities for US adversaries, writes @cyberstatecraft.bsky.social’s Jen Roberts. www.atlanticcouncil.org/dispatches/c...

Country-based AI controls are failing. The spyware industry demonstrates why.

Verifying who is really on the other end of an account is not a new problem—it is a classic spyware industry challenge.

atlanticcouncil.org

Can the 🇫🇷🇬🇧Pall Mall Process curb #spyware abuse – or will it contribute to its normalisation? Big thanks to @niaolainf.bsky.social, @alexandrapaulus.bsky.social for sharing their thoughts. My latest for @techpolicypress.bsky.social. 👇 www.techpolicy.press/can-the-pall...

Can the Pall Mall Process Curb Spyware Abuse?

Pall Mall Process brought 27 states together to curb spyware, but critics say its codes of practice risk normalizing spyware use, reports Vas Panagiotopoulos.

techpolicy.press

NEW: Who could have possibly seen this coming? @lhn.bsky.social and @dell.bsky.social report: www.wired.com/story/openai...

OpenAI Models Escaped Containment and Hacked Hugging Face

The cybersecurity-focused models, including GPT-5.6 Sol, broke out of a testing sandbox, exploited a zero-day, and gained access to the open internet to pull off the attack.

wired.com

NEW: Hackers are currently exploiting two critical WordPress flaws, which were patched on Friday, to remotely hack and take over websites, according to several cybersecurity firms. Around 90 million websites could still be vulnerable, according to an estimate by a security researcher.

Hackers are exploiting recently patched WordPress bugs, putting millions of websites at risk | TechCrunch

Two critical security flaws in WordPress’ software have given hackers the chance to remotely take over tens of millions of websites, according to an estimate by a cybersecurity researcher.

techcrunch.com

Magnet Forensics Inc., a Canadian cybersecurity firm, accused a former contractor of sharing trade secrets about a previously unknown flaw used to hack iPhones with rival firm Paradigm Shift. ✍️ @patrickhowelloneill.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

IPhone Hacking Firm Sues Ex-Worker Over Alleged Theft of Secrets

Magnet Forensics Inc., a Canadian cybersecurity firm, accused a former contractor of sharing trade secrets about a previously unknown flaw used to hack iPhones with a rival firm.

bloomberg.com

“This technical analysis provides the most detailed view yet into the inner workings of the Pegasus #spyware system. This includes confirmation of key technical capabilities such as the infection vectors and methodologies used to infect devices.” securitylab.amnesty.org/latest/2026/...

Inside Pegasus: The evolution of the world's most notorious spyware system - Amnesty International Security Lab

We are presenting here our most complete analysis to date of the Pegasus spyware. This blog post builds on previous technical reports and forensic investigations by Amnesty International’s Security La...

securitylab.amnesty.org

Canada's 🇨🇦 proposed lawful access law (Bill C22) is so bad it even has US Senators (like @wyden.senate.gov) worried it will create national security spying risks for Americans 🇺🇸! www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

The official NSO Group reseller in 🇫🇷France (Syans) revealed, in testimony reviewed by @forbidden-stories.bsky.social, details of its meetings with the French intelligence services and referred to a price of €60–80 million for the purchase Pegasus.

"A former intelligence agent turned whistleblower has detailed how 🇲🇦Morocco’s s domestic intelligence agency used #Pegasus to spy on a journalist, contradicting Morocco’s public claims to have never used the #spyware." www.occrp.org/en/project/t...

Moroccan Government Used Powerful Israeli Pegasus Spyware, Former Intelligence Officer Says

Morocco’s government has long denied using the Israeli spyware Pegasus to surveil its citizens. Now, a former Moroccan intelligence officer provides new evidence that the government did employ the sof...

occrp.org

“Spyware company NSO Group’s co-founder Shalev Hulio used an Israeli diplomatic passport to enter Panama in 2013, raising questions over the firm’s claims of independence from the Israeli state,” writes @occrp.org. www.occrp.org/en/project/t...

Co-Founder of Controversial Spyware Firm Had Israeli Diplomatic Passport

Spyware company NSO Group’s co-founder Shalev Hulio used an Israeli diplomatic passport to enter Panama in 2013, raising questions over the firm’s claims of independence from the Israeli state.

occrp.org

NEW: The Iranian government abused well-known flaws in the global telecoms infrastructure — specifically SS7 — to locate U.S. military personnel in the Middle East at the beginning of the war. techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/i...

Iran abused mobile networks' vulnerabilities to locate U.S. military in the Middle East, report says | TechCrunch

The Iranian government exploited well-known flaws in cellphone networks to locate and then strike U.S. military personnel in the build-up and beginning of the war.

techcrunch.com

Former Paragon Solutions (US) head is now the chief strategy & compliance officer of the 🇺🇸branch of 🇰🇷South Korean weapons manufacturer LIG Defense & Aerospace, which acquired a 60% stake of the controversial Philadelphia-based militarized robotics company Ghost Robotics in 2024 for roughly $240m.

Cognyte, which sells technology to snoop on phone locations largely in Israel and Europe, is making inroads in 🇺🇸America by tricking out trucks with spy tech, writes @thomasbrewster.bsky.social. www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...

Israel’s Palantir Rival Is Selling $1 Million Spy Vans To U.S. Cops

Cognyte, which sells technology to snoop on phone locations largely in Israel and Europe, is making inroads in America by tricking out trucks with spy tech.

forbes.com

To Vima reports that for the first time, Intellexa founder Tal Dilian has stated in a court filing that he personally sold Predator #spyware to 🇬🇷Greek state authorities, while maintaining the sale was lawful. www.tovima.com/society/dili...

Dilian's Court Filing Admits Selling Predator to Greece - tovima.com

Intellexa founder, Tal Dilian's lawyer claims in Israeli lawsuit that his sale of the spyware to Greek state authorities was entirely legal

tovima.com

The 🇪🇺European Union on Monday blacklisted members of a 🇷🇺Russian intelligence group it said were responsible for spying on and hacking targets across the EU and Ukraine from as early as 2010. www.politico.eu/article/eu-s...

EU sanctions Russian cyber spies for years-long hacking

Moscow’s Federal Security Service is behind the cyber espionage and sabotage campaigns, EU says.

politico.eu

The former director of the 🇪🇸National Intelligence Center, Paz Esteban, acknowledged this Friday before a Barcelona judge that the CNI intervened in 2020 the phone of former ERC party leader Sergi Sabrià. www.elconstitucional.es/en/national/...

🔻 Today's vote on #ChatControl 1.0 marks a disappointing step backwards. The European Parliament has approved the revival of the interim #ePrivacy derogation, despite having rejected a virtually identical proposal only a few months ago.

1/ Today @milenkowski.bsky.social from @sentinellabs.bsky.social and I are publishing a project we've been working on over the past few months. We found suspected China- and India-linked espionage actors independently targeting the same victim: #Balochistan Police in #Pakistan. s1.ai/spy2flags

Les révélations de #CitizenLab sont graves : un eurodéputé a été espionné alors qu'il siégeait dans la commission d’enquête sur les logiciels espions! J’ai demandé et obtenu un débat à ce sujet en plénière L’UE doit enfin adopter des règles contraignantes #Pegasus #Spywares

Espionnage au Parlement UE: l'inaction doit cesser!

YouTube video by Saskia Bricmont

youtube.com

A new Android spyware strain has been observed being rented out to criminals through Telegram, giving even low-skilled attackers the tools to hijack phones and steal banking credentials, researchers have found. www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/redwing...

RedWing Android Spyware Sold as a Service on Telegram

Zimperium found RedWing, an Android spyware sold as a service via Telegram to target banking apps

infosecurity-magazine.com

"🇬🇷Greece’s ruling New Democracy party is facing accusations of institutional overreach after its lawmakers blocked the summons of two central figures in the country’s long-running wiretapping scandal before Parliament’s Institutions and Transparency Committee." www.dnews.gr/eidhseis/new...

Greek Ruling Party Blocks Key Witnesses in Spyware Inquiry, Drawing Opposition Fury - Dnews

The dispute erupted after opposition parties requested testimony from Grigoris Dimitriadis and Tal Dilian. Greece’s ruling New Democracy party is facing accusations of institutional overreach after it...

dnews.gr

"It is completely unacceptable if this (hacking) were to be the case." These are @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu's last—and only—public remarks on spyware abuse in 🇪🇺, made following the Pegasus revelations in July 2021. Five years ago. Since then, only an eerie silence from the EU executive’s president.

🇺🇸 @business-humanrights.org invited the #lobbying firms mentioned in my recent @techpolicypress.bsky.social investigation to respond to concerns that their firm has been involved in serving clients in the #spyware industry with aims that allegedly “diverge from the public [interest]...”