The startups that hack your devices, WeWon't, and Goldman Sachs ruffles feathers

Matt Turner

Sep 8, 2019, 19:12 IST

The startups that hack your devices, WeWon't, and Goldman Sachs ruffles feathers

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

Hello!

The Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group has been accused of selling sophisticated digital surveillance technology to Saudi Arabia and other countries that are suspected of using it to attack dissidents and journalists.

It's also very profitable.

Becky Peterson this week lifted the lid on the secretive startup, revealing NSO Group's profits and customer breakdown for the first time, and shining a light on a web of more than a dozen similar startups in Israel, many of which operate in secret, that sell attacks against routers, computers, smart speakers, and other digital devices.

As she reports:

These companies often describe their wares as "lawful interception" or "intelligence" tools, though this hardly tells the full story. They all sell tools that take devices and turn them against their users to secretly spy without leaving a trace.

Whatever you call this technology, business is booming. Governments and law-enforcement agencies around the world are paying millions of dollars. And startups both inside of Israel and out are ready to sell.

You can also read about how Becky got inside the NSO Group and the offensive cyber world in this Q&A.

In other news, WeWork's IPO appears to be on rocky ground, and the company could cut its valuation by as much as half. Here's our latest:

WeWork says it has a $3 trillion market opportunity and has signed up only 0.2% of its potential customers. Troy Wolverton spoke to real-estate experts who said those numbers don't add up.
WeWork's valuation is confusing to everyone, even seasoned asset managers. Mutual funds offered by Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, and Hartford Funds all recently changed up the valuations they are putting on its shares. Those mutual funds do agree on one thing though: WeWork is classified as a real-estate company in all their filings.
Graham Rapier talked to Santosh Rao, head of research at Manhattan Venture Partners, who explained why he thought WeWork's original valuation was way too high.
Alex Nicoll talked to Convene CEO Ryan Simonetti, who said he was concerned that the "negative press cycle" around WeWork could throw the thesis behind the broader coworking and flex-space industry into question.
And Becky and Dakin Campbell profiled Alice Takhtajan at JPMorgan and Kim-Thu Posnett at Goldman Sachs who are doing some of the heavy lifting in WeWork's IPO.

What would you like to read more of? Let me know!

-- Matt

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