Creators of the Pegasus spyware, NSO Group, are currently without a chief executive officer.

On Sunday the firm said that Shalev Hulio was stepping down from the position with immediate effect. In the interim, chief operating officer Yaron Shohat would be appointed to oversee a reorganisation of the company.

On that point, Reuters reports that a source within NSO Group has confirmed that as many as 100 employees will be let go in a bid to streamline the spyware maker’s operations. This reorganisation of the firm will take place before a new CEO is appointed.

Despite stating time and again that it develops tools for governments to “detect and prevent terrorism”, NSO Group’s tools have been used for nefarious purposes.

Most recently the firm’s Pegasus spyware was found to have been used to spy on journalists. This spyware has lead to a number of lawsuits being filed against NSO Group. Meta alleges that NSO Group breached its servers in order to distribute Pegasus spyware while Apple is hoping to ban the firm from using its software, services and hardware.

In addition to this, the Biden administration placed NSO Group on the US Entity List in November 2021. The US Department of Commerce said the decision was made based on evidence that the tools the firm developed were being used to target journalist, government officials, activists, academics and activists among others.

“These tools have also enabled foreign governments to conduct transnational repression, which is the practice of authoritarian governments targeting dissidents, journalists and activists outside of their sovereign borders to silence dissent. Such practices threaten the rules-based international order,” the Department of Commerce wrote.

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