Verint Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: VRNT) to buy Israeli cyber surveillance company NSO Group for about $1 billion, the "Wall Street Journal" reports, 'according to a person familiar with the situation.
NSO Group was acquired by US private equity firm Francisco Partners in 2014 for $110 million. The company develops mobile surveillance tools to governments and among other things has reportedly developed ways to hack iPhones. NSO has been criticized by human rights activists who claim the company has targeted rights groups and journalists.
"The Wall Street Journal" said that spokeswomen for Verint and Francisco Partners declined to comment. NSO founders and shareholders Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie also declined to comment.
Headquartered in the US, Verint develops software and hardware products for customer engagement management, security, surveillance, and business intelligence. Verint is an offshoot of Israeli company Comverse and half of its employees are in Israel and its CEO Dan Bodner is Israeli.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 28, 2018
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