--- description: Find out why NSO Group was selected for the list title: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2022: NSO Group image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38db179fdee09c7c/698a302a4ee26299dd31a032/T100-Companies-D-NSO-Group.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Mar 30, 2022 # NSO Group Hawking spyware by [Billy Perrigo](/author/billy-perrigo/) ## Billy Perrigo Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent  The NSO Group company logo is displayed on a wall of a building next to one of their branches in the southern Israeli Arava valley near Sapir community centre on February 8, 2022. The NSO Group company logo is displayed on a wall of a building next to one of their branches in the southern Israeli Arava valley near Sapir community centre on February 8, 2022.Menahem Kahana—AFP/Getty Images A consortium of media organizations revealed last year that people around the world were the targets of surveillance enabled by software from Israeli company NSO Group. The spyware, [called Pegasus](https://time.com/6081622/pegasus-iphone-spyware-hack/ "undefined"), could steal personal data from targets’ apps, hijack audio from their microphones, and secretly activate their phone cameras. NSO said the software was meant to be used by governments for combatting terror and crime, but some governments have reportedly used it to target political dissidents, activists, and even the wife of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, [per](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/hanan-elatr-phone-pegasus/ "undefined") the Washington _Post_, a claim which NSO denies. _A weekly newsletter featuring conversations with the world’s top CEOs, managers, and founders._ [_Join the Leadership Brief_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=leadership&source=100companies "undefined"). NSO Group Is one of the 2022 TIME100 Most Influential Companies ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2022/6159498/nso-group/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2022/6159498/nso-group/"},"headline":"NSO Group","datePublished":"2022-03-30T10:26:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:01:47.516Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2022/6159498/nso-group/","keywords":["TIME100 Companies","T100Companies2022","sponsorshipblock"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38db179fdee09c7c/698a302a4ee26299dd31a032/T100-Companies-D-NSO-Group.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Billy Perrigo","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/"}],"creator":"Billy Perrigo","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38db179fdee09c7c/698a302a4ee26299dd31a032/T100-Companies-D-NSO-Group.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2022/6159498/nso-group/","name":"NSO Group"}}]}] ```