The group is said to be an Israeli-based but American-owned company, specialized in creating what it calls tools against crime and terrorism in other words these guys are cyber arms dealer.
On Thursday, the NSO Group as they are popularly known was thrust into international headlines after being credited with creating malicious software capable of "jailbreaking" any iPhone with just one tap of the screen, and then installing vicious spyware.
The NSO GROUP are;
- Founded in 2010 and has had several different names over time
- Based in Herzliya, Israel, and owned by US investment firm Francisco Partners
- Could be worth $1bn
Had he fallen victim and tapped on the link, the phone would have been hacked with huge amounts of private data: text messages, photos, emails, location data, even what’s being picked up by the device’s microphone and camera.
According to Forbes, the NSO GROUP is funded by the 8200 Intelligence Unit which was heavily involved in providing expertise and funding for Stuxnet, a cyber attack on Iran that was a joint operation between the US and Israel.
Herzliya, is an attractive city north of Tel Aviv that is known as being a cluster of tech start-ups. The group was likely funded by the elite 8200 Intelligence Unit, an Israeli military-funded scheme for start-ups.
The attack on Mr Mansoor, had it worked, would have utilised not one but three zero day attacks.
A "zero day" is a term given to vulnerabilities that were previously unknown to the security industry, and are therefore wide open to attack. To discover one zero day is rare, to find three is outstanding.
Clues to the origin of the attack came when the experts looked at the link included in the messages Mr Mansoor received. The link was connecting to a web domain known to point to servers set up by the NSO Group for its customers.
When Apple was made aware of the vulnerabilities in its iPhone, it immediately walked all round the clock to seal up the breach within 10 days and push out an update to all of its users. But there'll likely be many more weakness that remain hidden from view.
