With NSO, Cytrox, other companies, why do all commercial malware comes from Israel? Do Israelis hate freedom of press, journalists and human rights more than others?
They also have a steady stream of IDF graduates from Unit 8200 [1] (and other bits of the IDF) who are young, smart and know each other as a cohort. You'll meet groups of them at lots of Israeli firms; and lots of older cohorts will have good networks across the sector because of this.
I'm not making a moral judgement on this, I'm just saying I understand why there are a lot of companies that create weapons in a country at war for most of its existence.
For someone in such position deciding "do I want to work on things that rip people to shreds, or would I rather work on surveillance software?" The surveillance software choice can be considered a lesser evil and potentially something that can save lives etc.
No other Western-aligned country has such a pipeline - the US has it partially, but wannabe-competitors have a harder time acquiring customers, as non-Americans have to deal with ITAR and other export controls.
I'm interested to find out why too.
anyway Israel isn't the only one selling spyware software. There are a metric ton of sellers, operators, and people just selling zero-days to any bidder
the answer to their question is that Israel is a dense, highly educated country with a lot of expertise in computer security and other technology areas. VRED is a difficult and exciting area of work, and the pipeline from gaining these skills in the military and translating it to private industry is very real. it has nothing to do with freedom of the press, journalists, or human rights
Also bear in mind Israel crippling vulnerability to organised terror whose leaders cruelty know no limits and view every jew as a legitimate target. Especially in a freedom loving society this is intolerable so every step is considered in fighting this menace.