4 ms·

NSO’s ventures so far have mostly been tied to Arab countries. You can’t assume they work for Mossad anymore than assuming that Google is an extension of the NS

NSO’s ventures so far have mostly been tied to Arab countries. You can’t assume they work for Mossad anymore than assuming that Google is an extension of the NSA. Israel is a home for many, many cyber security companies, on defense and offense.

nyolfen 7y ago
you can definitely assume they have a cozy relationship: > NSO's founders are ex-members of Unit 8200, the Israeli Intelligence Corps unit responsible for collecting signals intelligence.[9]
- flyinglizard 7y ago
  I'd say over 50% of Israeli tech founders come from that unit or one of its siblings. That includes Wix, Checkpoint, Palo Alto Networks and hundreds of others. This really is the backbone of the Israeli tech industry. Not only that but these people are very tightly integrated into global tech giants - Apple's two large acquisitions in Israel (PrimeSense and Anobit), Facebook's Israeli R&D center (Onavo) and a significant part of Microsoft's cloud security division (Adallom) - all of those are ex. 8200.
- azinman2 6y ago
  Israel is small, and military service is required. If you're smart and have talent (versus just muscles), then you'll go through some unit like this during your service. It's a bit like saying Google is an extension of Stanford because that's where the founders came from. It just happens to be a place that people went through.
  - nyolfen 6y ago
    you are hopelessly naive if you think this is a coincidence
    - azinman2 6y ago
      I know many who have been through that group because of military service. None of them are doing security related stuff (one is a professor, another is VP at a major SV company, etc etc). Are you Israeli?
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
dillondoyle 7y ago
An interesting story I read from HN shows it's not out of the question for 'allied' intelligence to provide technology to 'opposition' nation states just to collect that intelligence. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297963 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297963

nyolfen 7y ago

you can definitely assume they have a cozy relationship: > NSO's founders are ex-members of Unit 8200, the Israeli Intelligence Corps unit responsible for collecting signals intelligence.[9]

flyinglizard 7y ago
I'd say over 50% of Israeli tech founders come from that unit or one of its siblings. That includes Wix, Checkpoint, Palo Alto Networks and hundreds of others. This really is the backbone of the Israeli tech industry. Not only that but these people are very tightly integrated into global tech giants - Apple's two large acquisitions in Israel (PrimeSense and Anobit), Facebook's Israeli R&D center (Onavo) and a significant part of Microsoft's cloud security division (Adallom) - all of those are ex. 8200.
azinman2 6y ago
Israel is small, and military service is required. If you're smart and have talent (versus just muscles), then you'll go through some unit like this during your service. It's a bit like saying Google is an extension of Stanford because that's where the founders came from. It just happens to be a place that people went through.
- nyolfen 6y ago
  you are hopelessly naive if you think this is a coincidence
  - azinman2 6y ago
    I know many who have been through that group because of military service. None of them are doing security related stuff (one is a professor, another is VP at a major SV company, etc etc). Are you Israeli?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]

dillondoyle 7y ago

An interesting story I read from HN shows it's not out of the question for 'allied' intelligence to provide technology to 'opposition' nation states just to collect that intelligence. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297963 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297963