The Israeli cyber security company NSO Group was ordered on Tuesday to pay $ 167 million compensation to Meta, which concluded a six-year legal battle after NSO 1,400 WhatsApp accounts of journalists, human rights and government officials had hacked.
In December, Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the American Court for the Northern District of California ruled that NSO Group had violated cyber security laws by using its popular Pegasus spionage software to direct phones with WhatsApp installed in 20 countries. Meta owns WhatsApp, an encrypted messages app with more than two billion users, as well as Facebook and Instagram.
In March, Meta submitted a brief damage for the NSO group and last week a jury heard arguments about possible penalties. The jury awarded the damage on Tuesday after two days of deliberations.
“The jury's judgment today to punish NSO is a critical deterrent for the Spyware industry against their illegal actions aimed at American companies and our users worldwide,” said Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, in a statement. “This is a broad threat and it will all costs us to defend themselves against it.”
WhatsApp said that it would donate the damage to organizations for digital rights that people defend.
“We will carefully examine the data of the judgment and pursue appropriate legal legal remedies, including further procedures and an appeal,” said Gil Lainer, vice -president of NSO Group for global communication. “We are convinced that our technology plays a crucial role in preventing serious crime and terrorism and is used in a responsible manner by authorized government agencies.”
WhatsApp sued NSO Group in 2019 and accused of gaining access to WhatsApp servers without permission. The test, in which managers of NSO Group witnessed for the first time, sheds light on the power of the company to install its Pegasus software on the mobile devices of goals without their knowledge. The managers argued that Pegasus helped to fight crime and to protect national security.
Apple has sued NSO group in the same way for hacking his devices in 2021, but dropped his suit in September. Also in 2021 the commerce department NSO group put on the blacklist and said that the company was acting “contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”
Spyware, a kind of software installed on phones, laptops and other electronic devices to spy on unsuspecting victims, is a growing field. The early Spyware from NSO Group required people on SMS reports or images that were sent via WhatsApp to be unknowingly downloaded on their phones.
According to evidence that is presented during the process, new versions could hack a telephone via a SMS message sent, for which no action by the recipient is required. The test also showed that NSO Group had developed technology to hack other messages apps.
John Scott-Rilton, an expert from external who helped WhatsApp to inform people that NSO Group Spyware had focused on them, said that Tuesday's decision would harm the company.
“The NSO company is based on hacking American companies,” and then “Dictators can hack dissidents,” said Mr. Scott-Rilton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, a cyber security watchdog group at the University of Toronto. “This judgment sends a clear signal.”
