Former prime minister Ehud Olmert worked for an Israeli company that creates attack spyware and which is blacklisted by the US for its alleged use by authoritarian regimes, Haaretz reports, as part of a joint investigation with major international news organizations.
Olmert tells Haaretz he did advisory work for Intellexa in the past. Neither he nor the report provide further details.
In July, the US Commerce Department said Intellexa dealt in exploits to break into IT systems, “threatening the privacy and security of individuals and organizations worldwide.”
Intellexa, along with Cytrox, is behind the spyware called Predator, which turns a smartphone into a remote eavesdropping device and lets the attacker siphon off data.
Intellexa was established by former Israeli Defense Force intelligence officer Tal Dilian, who was previously associated with NSO Group, creator of the notorious spyware Pegasus.
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