Billed as a security company which provides “boutique intelligence-based solutions” to combat illegal activity and terrorism, Rayzone Group surveils political opponents, journalists, human rights activists, and dissidents for state and private clients. It specializes specifically in geolocation technology; its leading product is Echo, a location software which siphons intelligence from mobile app data to locate targets. Rayzone Group and its subsidiaries operate in over eighty countries.
Along with peer firms like NSO Group, Rayzone Group is a leader among the burgeoning cyber weapon and surveillance industry – an industry in which Israel is by far the leading exporter. While NSO Group’s Pegasus software is the most infamous of these weapons, Rayzone and its subsidiaries offer countless similar tools. In the wake of the 2021 Pegasus scandal, for example, Israeli police quietly purchased Rayzone’s Echo software without approval to continue its surveillance activities in place of Pegasus software.
The networks of Rayzone’s leadership encapsulate the interwoven nature of surveillance firms and the Israeli state security apparatus. Two of Rayzone’s five cofounders – Eran Reshef and Matan Capsi – helped broker NSO Group’s first Pegasus sale to a state client (Mexico) in 2011. The company’s chairman Yohai Bar-Zakai Hasidov, is the former deputy commander of Unit 8200, the largest unit of the Israeli Defense Forces.
Rayzone’s export sales are controlled by the Israeli Defence Ministry. As is true for the entirety of the cyberweapon industry, the invaluable power of Rayzone’s products provides Israel with significant leverage in foreign policy negotiations, as they can approve or reject sales to foreign states at will.
Rayzone Group has also covertly contracted these tools with Tal Hanan and Team Jorge, who advertised Rayzone’s geolocation services as part of their services.
