Landmark ruling finds NSO Group liable on hacking charges in US federal court, after Pegasus spyware used to hack journalists, activists
Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp has won a significant legal ruling against spyware company NSO Group, with a US federal judge in California saying the Israeli firm illegally hacked into WhatsApp’s systems to plant spyware on the phones of some some 1,400 targeted people.
District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland, California approved WhatsApp’s motion for summary judgement in the five-year-old case, saying NSO violated the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act with its spyware program Pegasus.
Hamilton said WhatsApp is also entitled to sanctions for NSO’s refusal to turn over source code for its software in the discovery phase of the trial.
The proceedings will now continue to determine how much NSO should pay in civil damages.
Surveillance
“We spent five years presenting our case because we firmly believe that spyware companies could not hide behind immunity or avoid accountability for their unlawful actions,” said WhatsApp head Will Cathcart.
“Surveillance companies should be on notice that illegal spying will not be tolerated.”
John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Canadian internet watchdog Citizen Lab, which first brought to light NSO’s Pegasus software in 2016, said the ruling was a landmark with “huge implications for the spyware industry”.
“The entire industry has hidden behind the claim that whatever their customers do with their hacking tools, it’s not their responsibility,” he said.
“Today’s ruling makes it clear that NSO Group is in fact responsible for breaking numerous laws.”
WhatsApp sued NSO in 2019 seeking an injunction and damages for hacking its servers to place spyware on the phones of people including journalists, human rights activists and dissidents.
Liability
NSO argued at the time that Pegasus was for use by intelligence and law enforcement bodies to combat militants and hardened criminals.
The company has defended its software in US courts on the grounds that it sells exclusively to governments, who are responsible for how the software is used.
The US Supreme Court last year declined to hear NSO’s appeal on the issue, allowing WhatsApp’s appeal to proceed.
Apple dropped a similar case against NSO in September after Israeli authorities reportedly seized the company’s source code and NSO said it could no longer produce Pegasus.