Facebook says Israeli spyware company ran vast hacking operation in the United States
Lawsuit reveals extent of Israeli spyware company’s U.S. operation
In 2019, nearly 1,400 WhatsApp users were hacked with a number human
rights advocates and journalists targeted. The attack was allegedly the work the NSO Group, an Israeli spyware company.
Last October, Facebook (which owns WhatsApp) sued NSO over the breach, claiming that the company was unable to break Facebook’s encryption, but infected the phones of many users. NSO denied the claims. “The sole purpose of NSO is to provide technology to licensed government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to help them fight terrorism and serious crime,” the company said in a statement at the time, “Our technology is not designed or licensed for use against human rights activists and journalists. We consider any other use of our products than to prevent serious crime and terrorism a misuse, which is contractually prohibited. We take action if we detect any misuse.” NSO has tried to get the case dismissed, arguing that a California court has no jurisdiction in the matter, as its customers aren’t based in the U.S. (more…)