NSO spyware firm adviser Kayyem quits after outcry — report

Juliette Kayyem, a former Obama administration official, has stepped down as an adviser to Israeli cyber spyware firm NSO Group, after protests over her role there, the Guardian reports.

Kayyem, who was a top official in the Department of Homeland Security, was one of three high profile figures hired by NSO six months ago help the company, which has been accused of selling its Pegasus program to regimes who use them to track and sometimes torture or kill dissidents, activists and others.

The company denies any wrongdoing and says it only sells its spyware to fight crime and terror.

Kayyam, who is a professor at Harvard, came under fire on Monday when groups protested the university’s decision to have her host an online seminar, forcing it to cancel the session, according to the British news outlet.

It is surprising that Shorenstein didn't even acknowledge all experts who expressed concern about inviting an NSO "advisor" to talk about journalist safety.

It is like inviting a coal executive to talk about renewable energy.

CC: @camillefrancois @evacide @skirchy @nancygibbs https://t.co/FHL4WZu6H4

— Ahmed Zidan (@zidanism) February 1, 2020

Kayyem previously came under fire when she was hired as a columnist by the Washington Post, which had also employed Jamal Khashoggi. Activists claim NSO’s program was used by Saudi Arabia to track Khashoggi before he was killed.