A few months after stepping down as CEO of the NSO Group, a cyber espionage firm he co-founded, Shalev Hulio worked with former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to secure critical infrastructure such as oil and water. Founded a cybersecurity startup to protect the site. , an energy facility due to a cyber attack.
The startup, called Dream Security, will also work with government agencies and groups and will focus first on Europe, Israeli business daily Globe first reported on Wednesday. The new firm has raised an exceptional pre-seed round of $20 million from a group of investors led by Israeli-American venture capitalist and founder of investment firm Group 11, Dovi Frances.
Gil Dolev, founder and former CEO of Wayout Group, an information gathering company focused on IoT (Internet of Things) devices, will join the new business as a member of the founding team. Dolev and Hulio’s relationship goes back many years. Dolev is the president of his NSO Group He is the brother of Shiri Dolev and Wayout Group is a former NSO Executive Chairman He is a Herzliya-based company registered in Shalev and a financial institution affiliated with NSO He was acquired by NorthPole Bidco SARL.
Other investors in Dream Security include entrepreneur Adi Shalev, an early investor in NSO, and a number of entrepreneurs in Israel’s cybersecurity sector, according to a Globes report.
Kurz, who resigned as an Austrian politician late last year after being involved in a corruption scandal, will join Dream Security as president and vice president of business development, a company spokesperson told both Globes and Bloomberg. Kurz, 35, led the conservative Austrian People’s Party and became Chancellor in 2017, becoming a strong supporter of Israel.
According to Globes, Kurz met Hulio earlier this year when he visited Israel to seek investment opportunities in local startups. Instead, he was asked to join a new Israeli startup to open doors between important European infrastructure companies and relevant government agencies.
At a press conference in Vienna, Austria, on December 2, 2021, former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced that he would retire from politics two months after resigning as leader amid corruption allegations. (AP Photo/Lisa Leutner)
Kurz told the publication that as Chancellor of Austria, “I have witnessed many attacks not only on the government, but also on manufacturing plants and energy facilities, most of which were not reported in the media. This is only the supply chain.” It will also have far-reaching effects on normal energy supplies and public services such as water and hospitals.”
Julio told Bloomberg that the “intelligence side, if necessary, leaves the offensive side and moves to the defensive side.” It turns out that the biggest challenge the cyber world is dealing with is critical infrastructure. ” He said the new company would focus on the European market.
Dream Security will be one of several Israeli cybersecurity companies to protect critical infrastructure sites, including SoftBank-backed Claroty, which raised $400 million last December.
According to reports, the company plans to open an office in Tel Aviv later this year.
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Hulio previously led NSO for several years, overseeing the development and sales of the company’s flagship spyware, Pegasus. Considered one of the most powerful cyber surveillance tools available on the market, Pegasus gives operators effective and complete control over the target phone. It downloads all data from the device or activates camera or microphone without user’s knowledge.
A branch of the NSO Group near the southern town of Sapia on August 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, File)
The software was used to hack the phones of thousands of human rights activists, journalists and politicians in many countries with poor records of human rights activism, from Saudi Arabia to Mexico.
A company called NSO has faced a flurry of international criticism over the allegations. It became a diplomatic concern with
NSO is also facing lawsuits from Apple and WhatsApp (owned by Meta/Facebook), which accuse the Israeli company of hacking into their products and violating their terms.
The company claims that the Pegasus was only sold to foreign governments as a tool to catch criminals and terrorists after receiving approval from the Israeli Defense Ministry. But critics say these safeguards aren’t enough, and NSO admits it can’t control who its clients monitor.
Last month, members of the European Parliament investigating the use of surveillance spyware by European Union governments sharply criticized Israel for its lack of transparency in allowing it to sell powerful Israeli spyware to European governments. . Use of Pegasus and other spyware have been found in Poland, Hungary, Spain, and Greece.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce blacklisted NSO, damaging the company by restricting access to U.S. components and technology. NSO is challenging the designation.
The company has also been hit by Israel’s decision late last year to tighten oversight of cyber exports. reduced the number of countries where Israeli cyber software can be purchased from over 100 to 37.
