Recent US Court Ruling Comes As A Setback To The NSO Group

A recent ruling from the US court comes in as a significant setback for the NSO Group, holding it accountable for tampering with Meta’s WhatsApp. This decision was made after NSO failed to provide the complete source code for its infamous Pegasus spyware.

US Court Ruling Holds NSO Group Responsible For Hacking WhatsApp

Meta’s WhatsApp has scored a major victory that could help restore its reputation among users. In a recent ruling by a US court, Israel’s NSO Group was found liable for infiltrating WhatsApp with spyware.

According to US District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton’s verdict, the NSO Group breached Meta’s WhatsApp servers multiple times.

The limited evidence presented to the court indicates that the defendants’ Pegasus code was transmitted through the plaintiffs’ California-based servers 43 times in May 2019. The defendants “caused a digital transmission to enter California, leading to unauthorized access to a server in California.”

Following the lawsuit, the Court ordered the NSO Group to share the Pegasus malware code with WhatsApp by early 2024. However, NSO has not complied with the order, citing security concerns in its defense.

Meta filed the lawsuit against NSO Group in 2019 after detecting the exploitation of a WhatsApp vulnerability, CVE-2019-3568, to deploy Pegasus spyware. Despite Meta patching the vulnerability, NSO Group allegedly continued to use WhatsApp for distributing Pegasus malware on targeted devices.

Since then, the two parties have been engaged in legal battles, accusing each other of various malicious activities. In 2020, NSO disclosed Meta’s (formerly Facebook) attempt to purchase the Pegasus spyware.

NSO Group is known for assisting authoritarian regimes in monitoring dissenting voices and surveilling citizens. Despite efforts to keep client details confidential, research organizations like CitizenLab have reported instances of Pegasus being used against journalists, activists, and government officials in oppressive regions.

Pegasus, developed by the Israeli-based NSO Group, is a stealthy spyware that ensures persistent unauthorized access to target devices. Removing this malware is extremely challenging, even with top-tier anti-malware solutions, making it a preferred choice for global surveillance agencies.

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