NSO Collateral Damage: Is an Intelware Bug Zapper at Work

February 11, 2022

I have shared my view about NSO Group: The company’s conversion from secret specialized services vendor to publicity magnet will have downstream consequences. If the information in “Another Israeli Firm Caught Selling Pegasus Hacking Tool for Exploiting iPhone Flaw to Shut Down” is accurate, the knock on effect or some type of advanced bug zapper has killed another intelware vendor. (A bug zapper is a device which is technically a system or device which uses a brief electrical pulse to incinerate insects. I do not own a bug zapper because the little critters deserve to live happy lives despite the chemicals the lawn care company dumps on the yard every couple of weeks.)

The zappers come in a variety of form factors. There are bug zappers which look like pickle ball rackets. These are loved by the over 65 crowd. Some look like 1950s spaceships (pictured below), and others are like big toasters with wires and a weird blue glow.

The write up offers some factoids about the QuaDream intelware vendor zapping:

QuaDream could compromise iPhones in the manner of NSO Group’s Pegasus system. (Does this suggest that NSO Group’s systems and methods may have been shared in the specialized services’ technology community making QuaDream a reseller?)
The app was called “Reign” as in “reign of terror” perhaps?
The Reign solution cost upwards of $2.0 million US, excluding maintenance.
Reign allegedly could turn on a compromised iPhone’s camera and microphone. (Be sure to look for the small colored dots, iPhone user.)

I have noticed that some Israeli specialized software vendors are forming partnerships with firms providing services to financial institutions, law firms, and other commercial outfits. This is a mad scramble for cover in my opinion. The problem is that when the systems’ functions are explained some executives get cold feet despite the appeal of the specialized systems’ functionality.

This must be quite thrilling for the investment firms who have bet that the market for intelware and policeware was large and going to grow, as Ed Sullivan used to say, “really big.”

A high stakes game is underway and now there’s the mysterious bug zapper at work.

Stephen E Arnold, February 11, 2022

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Business strategy, intelware, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.