Meta wins $168 million lawsuit against Israeli spyware firm NSO Group

Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp has won a case against Israeli company NSO Group. According to an AFP report, a U.S. jury has ordered the spyware maker to pay about $168 million in damages. For those unaware, WhatsApp had filed the lawsuit in late 2019 in a federal court in Northern California. The company accused NSO of using its Pegasus software to install spyware on the smartphones of people using WhatsApp.The jury awarded WhatsApp $444,719 in compensatory damages and $167,254,000 in punitive damages, which are meant to discourage similar actions in the future.During the trial, Meta presented evidence that NSO spent tens of millions of dollars each year on ways to install spyware through messaging apps, browsers, and operating systems, not just through Meta’s platforms.In a blog post, Meta said “This trial put spyware executives on the stand and exposed exactly how their surveillance-for-hire system -- shrouded in so much secrecy -- operates”"Put simply, NSO's Pegasus works to covertly compromise people's phones with spyware capable of hoovering up information from any app installed on the device," Meta added. Meta also stated that Pegasus can remotely turn on cameras and microphones on smartphones without users knowing. WhatsApp accused NSO of targeting journalists, lawyers, human rights activists, and others through its platform."Given how much information people access on their devices, including through private end-to-end encrypted apps like WhatsApp, Signal and others, we will continue going after spyware vendors indiscriminately targeting people around the world," Meta said in the blog post. "These malicious technologies are a threat to the entire ecosystem and it'll take all of us to defend against it."NSO Group was founded in 2010 by Israelis Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie and is based in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.In response to the verdict, NSO vice president for global communication Gil Lainer said: "We will carefully examine the verdict's details and pursue appropriate legal remedies, including further proceedings and an appeal." He added, "We firmly believe that our technology plays a critical role in preventing serious crime and terrorism and is deployed responsibly by authorized government agencies."