In a way it doesn't really matter where this came from.
NSO, NSA, MI5... boys like their toys and can hardly help themselves.
And cyber-weapons - which are persistent, portable, infinitely
reprodicble at zero cost, reusable, indiscriminate and liable to
blowback - will always fall into the hands of assholes, common or
garden thugs and bullies. There is not even the merest possibility of
strategic limitation of such knowledge hazards.
So how about stop blaming the spooks. That's a distraction.
What does matter is that the entire ecosystem of "smartphone"
technology is compromised to the hilt. And it was built that way to
make few extra bucks. Our desperate, suicidal stampede to make
ourselves totally dependent on it is the problem.
Digital self defence starts with not sticking your dick in a
meat-grinder.
The much larger than understood cyber weapon world definitely enjoys how much of a PR loving extrovert Shalev Hulio (NSO founder) was. It takes the spotlight off them
NSO is just a commercial company buying and looking for 0-day exploits, 0-click or 1-click, it doesn't matter. There are probably hundreds of people with knowledge of said 0-days in the company who can turn around and start their own company the next day, or sell the 0-day instructions to 20 other companies
There are definitely many other players in this realm who no one talks about, using the same exact tools and exploits. Just not PR hungry like NSO is
NSO, NSA, MI5... boys like their toys and can hardly help themselves.
And cyber-weapons - which are persistent, portable, infinitely reprodicble at zero cost, reusable, indiscriminate and liable to blowback - will always fall into the hands of assholes, common or garden thugs and bullies. There is not even the merest possibility of strategic limitation of such knowledge hazards.
So how about stop blaming the spooks. That's a distraction.
What does matter is that the entire ecosystem of "smartphone" technology is compromised to the hilt. And it was built that way to make few extra bucks. Our desperate, suicidal stampede to make ourselves totally dependent on it is the problem.
Digital self defence starts with not sticking your dick in a meat-grinder.