NSO Group released its 2025 transparency report on Wednesday, calling it proof of a “new phase of accountability.” Yet the document omits every statistic it once supplied about customers suspended or dropped over human-rights concerns.
> At a Glance
> – Spyware maker NSO issued a shorter, vaguer transparency report for 2025
> – Previous editions listed rejected contracts and terminated clients; the new one offers no numbers
> – Critics say the move is aimed at persuading Washington to remove the company from the U.S. Entity List
> – Why it matters: Governments use NSO tools to hack phones, and missing oversight data makes it harder to verify claims of reform
NSO’s Pegasus spyware has long been linked to surveillance abuses worldwide. The firm’s latest report pledges to respect human rights and to impose controls on clients, but supplies no evidence that either promise is being kept.
What Disappeared From the Report
Earlier disclosures were modest, yet they at least contained figures:
- 2024 report: 3 misuse investigations, 1 customer cut, 1 retrained; $20 million in deals rejected over rights issues
- 2022-23 report: 6 governments suspended or terminated; $57 million in lost revenue
- 2021 statement: 5 customers disconnected since 2016; $100+ million in estimated lost sales; another 5 dropped over human-rights worries
The 2025 edition contains none of these metrics. It also withholds the company’s total client count, a figure that appeared in every prior release.
A Bid to Escape U.S. Sanctions
Washington blacklisted NSO in 2021, barring American firms from doing business with it. Since a U.S. investor group bought the company last year, NSO has:
- Installed David Friedman, former Trump administration official, as executive chairman
- Watched CEO Yaron Shohat step down
- Seen last founder Omri Lavie exit
Friedman writes in the report that “when NSO’s products are in the right hands within the right countries, the world is a far safer place,” but he names no nations where the firm operates.
Natalia Krapiva, senior tech-legal counsel at Access Now, told News Of Philadelphia:
> “NSO is clearly on a campaign to get removed from the U.S. Entity List … Changing the leadership is one part and this transparency report is another. However … they change names and leadership and publish empty transparency or ethics reports but the abuses continue.”
Investigators Left in the Dark
NSO declined to supply the missing statistics to News Of Philadelphia. John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at The Citizen Lab, dismissed the document:
> “Nothing in this document allows outsiders to verify NSO’s claims, which is business as usual from a company that has a decade-long history of making claims that later turned out to be misrepresentation.”
Lobbying Efforts Intensify
NSO has lobbied both the Biden and Trump administrations to lift trade restrictions. Although those efforts failed as of last May, December saw the Trump White House remove sanctions on three Intellexa spyware executives-viewed by some as a possible shift in attitude toward surveillance vendors.
Key Takeaways
- NSO’s 2025 transparency report removes every past statistic on client rejections and terminations
- Critics call the move “window dressing” aimed at exiting the U.S. Entity List
- Without hard data, outside groups cannot verify whether NSO has reformed
- The company’s leadership overhaul is part of an image makeover as it seeks American backing
For now, the world’s most famous spyware maker insists it is changing-but offers no numbers to prove it.
