Spyware maker NSO Group will have to pay more than $167 million in damages to WhatsApp for a 2019 hacking campaign against more than 1,400 users.
On Tuesday, after a five-year legal battle, a jury ruled that NSO Group must pay $167,254,000 in punitive damages and around $444,719 in compensatory damages.
This is a huge legal win for WhatsApp, which had asked for more than $400,000 in compensatory damages, based on the time its employees had to dedicate to remediate the attacks, investigate them, and push fixes to patch the vulnerability abused by NSO Group, as well as unspecified punitive damages.
WhatsApp’s spokesperson Zade Alsawah said in a statement that “our court case has made history as the first victory against illegal spyware that threatens the safety and privacy of everyone.”
Alsawah said the ruling “is an important step forward for privacy and security as the first victory against the development and use of illegal spyware that threatens the safety and privacy of everyone. Today, the jury’s decision to force NSO, a notorious foreign spyware merchant, to pay damages is a critical deterrent to this malicious industry against their illegal acts aimed at American companies and the privacy and security of the people we serve.”
NSO Group’s spokesperson Gil Lainer left the door open for an appeal.
“We will carefully examine the verdict’s details and pursue appropriate legal remedies, including further proceedings and an appeal,” Lainer said in a statement.
The precedent-setting ruling from a Northern California federal judge could lead to massive damages against NSO Group, whose notorious spyware has been reportedly used by various governments worldwide.
Apple said there’s “too significant a risk” of exposing the anti-exploit work needed to fend off the very adversaries involved in the case.
We’re sharing an update on suspected state-backed attacker APT29 and the use of exploits identical to those used by Intellexa and NSO.
Documents reveal how Israel seized files, suppressed information related to WhatsApp’s lawsuit against Pegasus spyware vendor NSO
Shalev Hulio is remaking his image but is still involved in a web of cybersecurity ventures with his old colleagues from NSO Group.
A joint investigation by civil society and independent researchers has uncovered hacking of Armenia spyware victims with NSO Group's Pegasus spyware.
Apple has fixed the three exploits used to deploy the Pegasus spyware, which did not require any interaction from the target.
One widely publicized case of disappearances relevant to this case of spyware infection occurred in September 2015 when a group of 43 students at a teacher
An employee of cyberweapon manufacturer, NSO Group, tried to sell advanced malware to unauthorized parties for $50-Million, according to an Israeli indictment unsealed last week against the individual in question. About two years ago, Herzliya-based NSO Group developed a powerful cyberweapon called Pegasus, which operated as malware that exploited three previously unknown vulnerabilities in iPhones […]
A 500-page document reviewed by WIRED shows Corellium engaged with several controversial companies, including spyware maker NSO Group.
The scandal over NSO Group's Pegasus spyware was uncovered by a single fake image file mistakenly left on an activist's iPhone, a report states, a discovery that prompted international outcry over privacy.
As a journalist working for the Arab news network Alaraby, Rania Dridi said she’s taken precautions to avoid being targeted by hackers, keeping an eye out for suspicious messages and avoiding clicking on links or opening attachments from people she doesn’t know.
A series of reports into how the Israeli police spied on their own citizens has finally grabbed everyone’s attention – and nowhere more so than among Benjamin Netanyahu’s loyal followers
