Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group was ordered to pay Meta on Tuesday $167 million in damages, closing the six-year legal battle after the NSO hacked 1,400 WhatsApp accounts belonging to journalists, human rights activists and government officials.
In December, U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton for the Northern District of California determined that the NSO group had violated cybersecurity laws using the popular Pegasus spy software to target mobile phones that had installed WhatsApp in 20 countries. Meta owns Facebook and Instagram as well as WhatsApp, an encrypted messaging app with over 2 billion users.
In March, Meta filed a short period of time seeking damages from the NSO group, and last week the Ju Court heard discussions about potential penalties. The ju apprentice awarded damages on Tuesday after two days of deliberation.
“Today's ju-degree punishing NSOs is a critical deterrent for the spyware industry against illegal activities targeting American companies and users around the world.” “This is an industry-wide threat and we all need to protect it.”
WhatsApp said it would donate damages to digital rights groups that protect people.
“We are pleased to announce that we are committed to providing a range of services to our customers,” said Gil Rainer, Vice President of Global Communications at NSO Group. “We firmly believe that our technology plays a key role in preventing serious crime and terrorism and is being deployed responsibly by licensed government agencies.”
WhatsApp sued the NSO group in 2019, accusing them of being able to access WhatsApp servers without permission. The exam, which was first testified in court by an NSO group executive, shed light on the company's ability to install Pegasus software on target mobile devices without knowledge. The executive argued that Pegasus helped law enforcement and intelligence reporting agencies fight crime and protect national security.
Apple similarly sued the NSO group for hacking the device in 2021, but dropped the suit in September. In 2021, the Commerce Department blacklisted the NSO group, saying the company acted “in violation of the interests of the US national security or foreign policy.”
Spyware, a type of software installed on mobile phones, laptops and other electronic devices, is growing to spy on unsuspecting victims. The early spyware of NSO groups had to be clicked on text messages or images sent via WhatsApp so that they could be downloaded unwittingly on mobile phones.
According to the evidence presented at the trial, the new version can be hacked into the phone via sent text messages and no action is required by the recipient. The test also revealed that the NSO group has developed a technology to hack into other messaging apps.
John Scott-Railton, an outside expert whose WhatsApp lets people know that NSO Group Spyware is targeting them, said Tuesday's decision would damage the company.
“NSO's businesses are based on hacking American companies,” says Scott Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog group at the University of Toronto, and “Dictators can hack the rebels.” “This verdict sends a clear signal.”
