A judge has found that NSO is a group of spyware responsible for attacking WhatsApp users

A federal judge in California agreed with WhatsApp that NSO, the Israeli cybersurveillance company behind the Pegasus spyware, compromised its systems by sending malware through its servers to thousands of users’ phones. WhatsApp and its parent company, Meta, sued the NSO group back in 2019 and accused it of spreading malware to 1,400 mobile devices in 20 countries and investigating it as its target. They later revealed that some of the suspected calls were from journalists, human rights activists, prominent female leaders and political opponents. The Washington Post reports say District Judge Phyllis Hamilton has granted WhatsApp’s request for summary judgment against NSO and ruled that it violated the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

The NSO group denied the allegations in the “strongest terms” when the lawsuit was filed. It denied involvement in the protests and told Engadget at the time that its mission was to “provide technology to state-sanctioned law enforcement agencies to help them fight terrorism and serious crime.” The company said it should not be held liable, as it only sells its services to government agencies, which decide what they want. In 2020, Meta he added to his case and accused the company of using servers from the US to develop its Pegasus spying equipment.

Judge Hamilton ruled that the NSO group violated the CFAA, because the company appears to have approved the modification of WhatsApp that its customers used to send messages through WhatsApp’s official servers. Those messages allow Pegasus spyware to be installed on users’ devices – the targets don’t have to do anything, like make a phone call or click on a link, to get infected. The court also found that the plaintiff’s request for injunctive relief should be granted due to the NSO team’s “repeated (failure) to release the required material,” the most important of which is the Pegasus source code.

WhatsApp spokesperson Carl Woog said The Post that the company believes this is the first court decision to admit that a major spyware vendor has violated US antitrust laws. “We are grateful for today’s decision,” Woog told the publication. “NSO can no longer avoid holding accountable WhatsApp, the media, human rights activists and civil society organizations. With this decision, spyware companies must realize that their illegal activities will not be tolerated.” In his decision, Judge Hamilton wrote that his order resolves all issues related to NSO Group’s liability and that the trial will focus only on how much the company should pay.