NSO Group
Israeli maker of Pegasus spyware, added to the US Entity List in November 2021.
When the UK, US and Netherlands exposed Iran's CHOSEN BRICK spyware on 15 September 2026, NSO Group was the counter-example: a commercial spyware maker that Washington blacklisted in 2021 and a US court has since barred from targeting WhatsApp.
Last refreshed: 12 October 2026
Can courts and export bans rein in a spyware maker?
Timeline for NSO Group
Named as NSO Group
Cybersecurity: Threats and Defences: Mentioned in: UK, US and Dutch expose Iranian spywareBackground
NSO Group is an Israeli company that builds Pegasus spyware and sells it to governments. A US investor group took control of it in late 2025, and its three co-founders said they no longer held any stake.
The US Commerce Department put NSO on the Entity List on 4 November 2021, saying it had "developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments" that used it against officials, journalists, activists and others. Apple also sued NSO over Pegasus. WhatsApp had brought its own case in a California federal court in 2019; Judge Phyllis Hamilton later granted a permanent injunction barring NSO from targeting WhatsApp and reduced a punitive damages award of about $167m to $4m.
Washington's blacklisting and the WhatsApp lawsuit made NSO the standard case for curbing commercial spyware. In September 2026 Britain, the US and the Netherlands exposed CHOSEN BRICK, a Windows tool Iranian state hackers turn on dissidents; as a state-built weapon it sits beyond both levers that were used against NSO.
