Israeli spyware maker NSO found liable in WhatsApp hacking lawsuit

{FILED BY META} PEGASUS WAS USED TO INFECT MOBILE PHONES OF ABOUT 1,400 PEOPLE WORLDWIDE

- Aditi Agrawal

In a significant first, a California court has found Israeli spyware maker NSO Group liable for hacking WhatsApp's servers in a lawsuit filed by the Meta-owned platform in 2019. The district court of Northern District of California will now determine damages.

The court concluded that NSO Group violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act (CDAFA), and Californian Penal Code. The company also breached its contract with WhatsApp by using it to send "harmful code" and for illegal purposes.

This lawsuit, the first of its kind where a Silicon Valley giant sought to hold a company from Israel's hacking industry accountable, revealed that NSO Group's Pegasus was used to infect mobile phones of about 1,400 people worldwide. These included at least 121 Indians, including Nihalsingh Rathod, who represented Surendra Gadling in the Bhima Koregaon case.