The United States District Court of Northern California has found the Israel spyware company, NSO Group Technologies Limited, liable for hacking phones via an exploit on WhatsApp. NSO, who are developers of the Pegasus spyware, were taken to court on October 29, 2019. This lawsuit was filed by the WhatsApp, the messaging app owned by Meta.
WhatsApp alleged that the defendants used its messaging platform to send malware to approximately 1,400 mobile phones and devices in order to infect them and surveil their users. Their complaint alleged causes of action including violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), violation of the California state anti-fraud law (CDFA), and a breach of contract.
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In the summary ruling, the Judge agreed with WhatsApp on these three causes and stated,
“Thus, the court GRANTS summary judgment in plaintiffs’ favor on the CFAA claim under both section (a)(2) and (a)(4), on the theory that defendants exceeded their authorization. Defendants appear to fully acknowledge that the WIS sent messages through WhatsApp servers that caused Pegasus to be installed on target users’ devices,”
Further, the Judge added, “Thus, the court concludes that summary judgment must be GRANTED on the CDAFA claim for the same reasons as the CFAA claim.”
NSO was fighting WhatsApp’s claims in order to prevent a full trial. With yesterday’s ruling in California, the trial proceeds but will focus solely on determining the damages caused by NSO’s hacking activities.
Head of WhatsApp at Meta, Will Cathcart, welcomed the ruling saying, “We firmly believe that spyware companies should not hide behind immunity or avoid accountability for their unlawful actions. Surveillance companies should be on notice that illegal spying will not be tolerated.”
NSO Pegasus in Kenya
Pegasus, a mobile phone spyware suite that is produced and sold by the Israel-based NSO Group made its way to Kenya according to 2018 reports by Citizen Lab. Pegasus has in the past been used to monitor special interest targets, specifically, journalists and human rights activists.
NSO Group only sells Pegasus to governments which raises the red flag as to who exactly was being monitored in Kenya.
