- The NSO group must pay out nearly $ 167.5 million in damage to WhatsApp
- 1,400 users were compromised through an audio call vulnerability
- Meta wants to donate to digital rights organizations
NSO Group has been ordered to pay over $ 167 million in penalties and almost half a million ($ 445,000) in compensatory damage to WhatsApp after a five-year legal match.
The fines come from a 2019 hacking campaign that affects over 1,400 WhatsApp users, with NSO using Pegasus Spyware to utilize an audio call vulnerability on the mobile app.
Among those affected were high profiled individuals and public persons, such as journalists, activists and diplomats, with the Israeli cyber-intelligence company Spyware also able to access emails, texts, financial data, location data and remote camera and microphone activation.
Israel’s NSO group pays over $ 167 million in replacement to WhatsApp
“In short, NSOS Pegasus is working to hide compromise people’s phones with spyware capable of hoovering up information from any app installed on the device,” Meta explained in a message.
Meta noted that Pegasus, when installed on an affected handset, has the ability to “Hoover Up Information from any app installed on the device.”
Given the scope of data types Pegasus targets, Meta has also confirmed that `” WhatsApp was far from NSO’s only goal. “
The technology giant did not name other affected companies, but the NSO has admitted that it spends tens of thousands of millions of dollars annually to develop installation methods in malware, which may include via instant messenger, browsers and operating systems – both iOS and Android.
The NSO Group claims that it only sells its spyware to governments, but there are increasing attacks on citizens suggesting that malicious actors have also been able to get their hands on spyware – be it the government’s affiliated businesses or otherwise.
“Pegasus is designed to be stealthy and avoid forensic analysis, avoid detection of antivirus software and can be deactivated and removed by operators,” explained Citizen Lab.
Even after six years, Meta has acknowledged that there could be a long way to go before compensation is paid, but the company “would like to give a donation to digital rights organizations working to defend people against such attacks around the world” as a result of its success in court.
