FTA: It appears that the company that provided the spyware and the zero-day exploits to the hackers targeting Mansoor is a little-known Israeli surveillance vendor called NSO, which Lookout’s vice president of research Mike Murray labeled as “basically a cyber arms dealer.”
So we have cyber arms dealers now. I continue to be amazed at the prophecies of William Gibson. Makes me wonder if there's anything to "remote viewing." Did he just look forward into the 21st century and write down what he saw? :)
I think Gibson's explanation is that the future is here, it's just not evenly distributed yet.
Others like Doctorow and Stross has voiced similar views. In Stross' case, he apparently shelved the third part of a trilogy because the NSA was outpacing him.
There are many private firms in the US doing the exact same thing, and have for years, except they sell exclusively to the US government/NSA. Not sure if it's more or less profitable than being a freelance "cyber arms trafficker".
Phineas Fisher, we need you now.