WhatsApp Wins Landmark Legal Victory: Israel’s NSO Group Found Liable for Spyware Damages

Meta’s WhatsApp won a legal victory against Israel’s NSO Group cybersecurity firm after a federal judge ruled the spyware firm liable under federal law for a 2019 hacking incident that compromised over 1,000 WhatsApp accounts. The judge ruled that NSO violated US law and must pay damages to WhatsApp, as well as hand over the Pegasus source code.

According to the lawsuit, NSO used WhatsApp servers to send spyware to roughly 1,400 devices in April and May, according to a WhatsApp complaint. At least 100 of the targets were civil society actors across the world.

Despite NSO Group’s claims that its government clients control Pegasus and are responsible for its use, lawsuit documents reveal the company itself “installs and extracts” information via the spyware. Pegasus has been used to infiltrate not only WhatsApp, but also iPhones, extracting photos, emails, and text messages.

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“This ruling is a huge win for privacy,” Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, said in a post on Meta’s Threads messaging app. “We spent five years presenting our case because we firmly believe that spyware companies could not hide behind immunity or avoid accountability for their unlawful actions. Surveillance companies should be on notice that illegal spying will not be tolerated. WhatsApp will never stop working to protect people’s private communication.”

“We’re proud to have stood up against NSO and thankful to the many organizations that were supportive of this case. WhatsApp will never stop working to protect people’s private communication,” he added.

Israel Cybersecurity firm NSO Group develops ways to break through encryptions and security systems. Last year, it was revealed that NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware software aids in the violation of people’s human rights around the world and that the company has known all about this. Specifically, they were charged with helping governments hack the telephones of journalists.

NSO Group was eventually blacklisted by the U.S. government in November 2021. And it was reported that NSO Group Pegasus spyware was used to track American embassy employees in East Africa. Specifically, 11 U.S. Embassy employees working in Uganda had their iPhones hacked by the program.

The company’s activities were even felt in Israel itself. A scandal erupted in the country when a report in Calcalist revealed that the Israel Police had hacked the phones of many Israeli citizens, including politicians, without first acquiring the proper court orders for wiretapping as required by law.