A jury has awarded WhatsApp against an Israeli -based NSO group to exploit a software against an Israeli -based NSO group, which has hijacked thousands of users’ phones.
The decision, which reached Tuesday, has come as a major victory not only for the Meta -owned WhatsApp but also for privacy and security rights supporters who have long been criticized for the methods of NSOs and other exploitation sellers. The jury also compensated WhatsApp for $ 444 million compensation.
Clickless exploits
WhatsApp tried NSO In 2019 About 1,400 mobile phones belonging to lawyers, journalists, human rights activists, political dissent, diplomats and foreign officials were targeted for the attack. The NSO, which works by governments and law enforcement officials in different countries, exploited a critical threat to WhatsApp, which allowed it to install NSO proprietary spyware. Pegasis On iOS and Android devices. Clickless exploitation worked on a target app. No target was needed to respond to a call for infection.
WhatsApp said in one, “Today’s decision in the WhatsApp case is an important step for privacy and security because the first victory against the development and use of illegal spyware that threatens everyone’s safety and privacy.” Description. “Today, the jury’s decision to force the NSO, a notorious foreign spyware merchant, is an important obstacle to the malicious industry to pay for the damages, which aims for the privacy and protection of American companies and the people we serve.”
The NSO created WhatsApp accounts in 2018 and used them to start calls a year later, which exploited critical risk on the phone, including 100 members of “civil society” from 20 countries, according to the research group Citizens Lab. Calls passed through WhatsApp servers and inject malicious code in memory of target devices. The targeted phones will then use WhatsApp servers to connect malicious servers maintained by the NSO.