Yossi Carmil
Israeli executive; chief executive of Cellebrite, 2005–2025
| Yossi Carmil | |
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| Nationality | Israeli |
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| Occupation | Technology executive; former army officer |
| Known for | Chief executive of Cellebrite |
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Yossi Carmil is an Israeli executive and former Israel Defense Forces officer who led the mobile forensics company Cellebrite for about nineteen years, until early 2025. According to Ctech, he was earlier a lieutenant colonel and battalion commander in the paratroopers, serving under Benny Gantz, and then worked for Israel's Ministry of Defence.[1]
Career
Ctech reports that after leaving the army Carmil was posted to Europe by the Ministry of Defence and later became a vice-president at Siemens Israel. He joined Cellebrite in 2004, when it sold phone-to-phone data transfer equipment to mobile operators, and in 2005 became CEO jointly with Ron Serber. In 2007 the founders, Avi Yablonka, Yaron Baratz and Yuval Aflalo, sold their shares to Japan's Sun Corporation for $17.5 million; Carmil stayed on.[1]
Under Carmil the company moved into mobile forensics, the extraction of data from seized phones. In 2019 the Israeli fund IGP invested $100 million, and in 2021 Cellebrite listed on Nasdaq through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).[1]
Human rights criticism
In his 2025 exit interview Carmil rejected comparisons with spyware firms: "we are not, and have never been, a spy company". Ctech noted that an Amnesty International report the previous month had accused Cellebrite's software of being used against journalists and protesters in Serbia. It also noted earlier controversies that had led the company to withdraw from markets including Russia, Hong Kong and China. Carmil confirmed that the company needed export approval from the Ministry of Defence because its technology was classed as dual-use.[1]
In a 2019 interview with Ynet, Carmil said Cellebrite had recently signed a contract with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "in which we take great pride". Asked about data being taken from migrants' phones, he said: "When I need to take data from immigrants to keep my country safe, I feel I am on the right side of the law." He described NSO Group's customers as operating in a world that was "illegal and concealed", unlike Cellebrite's police clients.[2]
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Sophie Shulman, From bootstrapped startup to a $5B powerhouse: Cellebrite's outgoing CEO reflects on two decades Ctech, 29 January 2025.
- ↑ Reuters, 'I sleep well at night because I know for whom I work and whom I serve' Ynetnews, 4 November 2019.