US Judge Rules NSO Group Liable for WhatsApp Hack in Landmark Case

 

The logo of NSO Group

A US judge delivered a significant legal victory for WhatsApp on Friday, ruling that NSO Group Technologies, the Israeli maker of the infamous Pegasus spyware, violated US hacking laws and WhatsApp's terms of service in a 2019 cyberattack.

The lawsuit, filed by Meta, WhatsApp's parent company, accused NSO Group of infecting and surveilling the phones of 1,400 individuals over a two-week period in May 2019. These individuals included journalists, human rights activists, political dissidents, and diplomats.

In her ruling, Judge Phyllis Hamilton stated that NSO Group had violated both state and federal US hacking laws, specifically the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The case will now proceed to a jury trial in March 2025 to determine the damages owed to WhatsApp.

WhatsApp praised the decision, with a spokesperson saying, “After five years of litigation, we’re grateful for today’s decision. NSO can no longer avoid accountability for their unlawful attacks on WhatsApp.” The company further emphasized that this ruling sends a message to spyware firms that illegal actions will not be tolerated.

NSO Group, which has consistently denied responsibility for the actions of its government clients, has not yet commented on the ruling. However, filings in the case revealed that NSO Group was directly responsible for deploying Pegasus, which infiltrated both WhatsApp and iPhones, extracting sensitive data such as photos, emails, and texts.

The ruling comes after years of legal challenges. In 2024, NSO Group was ordered to provide WhatsApp with its source code, but failed to comply with the court’s order, resulting in sanctions. Despite NSO Group’s claim that its clients, not the company itself, controlled the use of Pegasus, evidence presented in court contradicted this defense.

In response to the lawsuit, the US government blacklisted NSO Group in 2021, barring its products from being purchased by US agencies. Pegasus has been widely used by authoritarian governments to target activists, journalists, and political opponents

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