Israeli spyware maker Paragon, which has largely kept a low profile in recent years, was acquired by American private equity giant AE Industrial Partners last week, according to Israeli news. reports.

Technology news site Calcalist reported He said that the investment firm bought Paragon for $500 million and that the deal could reach $900 million depending on the growth of the company. Spheres reported He said the down payment is $450 million, of which 20% will go to Paragon's 400 employees, 30% to the five co-founders, and the remaining 50% to US venture capital fund Battery Ventures and Israeli venture capital fund Red Dot .

in 2021 Forbes appeared first The existence of Paragon, which did not and still does not have a website. The magazine reported that the company was founded by a group of former Israeli intelligence officers: Ehud Schneorson, the former commander of Unit 8200, a well-known Israeli spy agency whose graduates often work in the cybersecurity private sector; as well as CEO Idan Nurick, CTO Igor Bogudlov, and vice president of research Liad Avraham.

AE Industrial did not respond to TechCrunch's request for comment on the reported deal.

Nurick and Avraham did not respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn. Bogudlov and Schneorson could not be reached for comment.

Battery Ventures spokeswoman Rebecca Buckman declined to comment. Red Dot did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Forbes reported in 2021 that Paragon offers services for hacking phones that allow access to applications such as WhatsApp, Signal, Facebook Messenger, and Gmail on the target's phone. Paragon's spyware product called Graphite has been compared to a rival of Pegasus and similar spyware products produced by NSO Group.

in October, Wired reported He said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement signed a one-year contract worth $2 million with Paragon to purchase a "fully configured custom solution" that includes licenses, hardware and warranties, maintenance and training. Last month, New Yorker It cited a Paragon source who said the ICE settlement followed a review process in which Paragon showed it had controls in place to prevent customers in other countries from hacking U.S. residents.

This is an ongoing issue at NSO Group. was accused Providing vehicles to countries targeting American citizens, including U.S. Embassy employees. In part due to these alleged attacks, the U.S. Department of Commerce Put NSO Group on the economic blocklist in 2021It effectively bans U.S. companies from doing business with the company. The US government has taken similar steps, including sanctions. against spyware maker Intellexa.

By acquiring Paragon, AE Industrial follows the example of other Western investment firms that have invested in Israeli spyware makers. In 2014, US private equity firm Francisco Partners paid $130 million to acquire a 70% stake in NSO Group. Calcalist reported at the time. That same year, Francisco Partners was in contact with the now-defunct Italian spyware company Hacking Team, according to leaked emails from the company; The emails were stolen by notorious hacktivist Phineas Fisher and later published on the internet.

In 2019, two of NSO's founders, Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie, regained control of the company by buying it back from Francisco Partners.