NOWHERE TO HIDE

Going undercover to expose a global surveillance empire that has tracked world leaders, journalists, dissidents, and maybe even you

- Gabriel Geiger, Crofton Black, Emmanuel Freudenthal, and Riccardo Coluccini

"THE IS PROBLEM the export license, huh? For this we can find a...a way."

It was early June, and Guenther Rudolph was in an expansive mood. Sharp-suited, relaxed, and charming, he was standing in a booth in Prague's Clarion Congress Hotel. Every year the Clarion hosts an exclusive gathering: the premier get-together of the surveillance industry, called ISS World Training, where law enforcement and intelligence officials from across the globe mingle with representatives of leading spy companies. People outside the business—including journalists—are barred from entry.

On the hotel's first floor, vendors lined up to sell their wares, and digital displays pulsed with inspiring slogans: “eliminate the unknown,” “saving lives.” Products ranged from hidden cameras to drones to “open source intelligence” and “Al-powered analytics.” But the largest, glitziest, and busiest booths advertised access to people’s phones.

Some of the companies that have promoted their products at this event are now infamous, such as NSO Group, which makes the blacklisted Pegasus spyware that news reports and multiple lawsuits implicated in Jamal Khashoggi's murder, and Intellexa, which triggered a hacking scandal in Greece. In recent years, surveillance companies have been linked to assassination plots. They have been exposed for targeting politicians, including members of Congress; political dissidents and human rights advocates; and journalists. Their spy ops have led to lawsuits, parliamentary inquiries, financial penalties, and, in the case of both NSO Group and Intellexa, US government sanctions. But, through these controversies, one company has remained in the shadows.