US Court Orders NSO Group to Stop Attacking WhatsApp
A court in the USA has ordered the tech company NSO Group Technologies to stop attacking the messaging service WhatsApp.According to the manufacturer of the monitoring software “Pegasus”, this decision endangers the company’s buisness operations.
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In the ruling announced last Friday,US District Judge phyllis Hamilton issued a permanent injunction barring NSO Group from targeting WhatsApp users. The case was heard in the United States district Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland (Case No. 19-CV-07123). Simultaneously occurring, the court reduced the amount of damages awarded to WhatsApp parent company Meta from $167 to “only” four million US dollars. Judge Hamilton justified the decision by saying that the NSO Group’s conduct could not be classified as “particularly serious” and therefore did not justify such high damages.
Despite the reduction in the fine, those responsible at WhatsApp were pleased with the judge’s decision. “today’s ruling prohibits spyware maker NSO from targeting WhatsApp and our global users ever again,” WhatsApp CEO Will cathcart said in a statement. “We welcome this decision, which comes after six years of litigation to hold NSO accountable for its surveillance of members of civil society.”
Long-term dispute in courts
The legal dispute has preoccupied the courts for many years. In a lawsuit filed in October 2019,WhatsApp parent company Meta accused NSO group of violating various laws when installing the Pegasus spy software. At the beginning of 2019, NSO Group is said to have unlawfully accessed WhatsApp servers, thereby enabling the surveillance of 1,400 people, including journalists and human rights activists.
In 2020, a judge rejected NSO group’s request for a form of immunity. The company appealed this decision.However, an appeals court upheld the decision in 2021. At the beginning of 2023, the judges of the US Supreme Court finally rejected NSO Group’s appeal. In this case, the company argued that it was immune from a lawsuit as it acted as an agent for unidentified foreign governments when installing the spy software.
The case ultimately ended up in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. At the end of February 2024, the judge responsible decided that NSO Group must hand over the source code of the Pegasus spyware.