WhatsApp’s high profile cyberespionage lawsuit against Israeli spy company NSO Group has reached an end after a U.S. federal jury awarded $168 million in damages. The basis of this legal battle was an accusation that NSO broke WhatsApp security systems with its infamous Pegasus spyware, impacting users everywhere in the world.
Jurors ordered Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing to pay $167.25 million in punitive damages and $444,719 in compensatory damages. The case involved the 2019 incident in which NSO used a WhatsApp vulnerability in the messaging service’s video calling to install Pegasus spyware on around 1,400 devices. According to victims, the people being attacked included journalists, human rights defenders, political dissidents, diplomats and government officials.
Meta (formerly Facebook) owns WhatsApp, which lodged the lawsuit saying NSO’s actions violated U.S and international laws. The spyware endangered user privacy and integrity of the platform, the company said. NSO Group was hailed by Meta as a landmark for digital rights and the company said it would continue to seek a permanent injunction that would prevent NSO’s intrusive practices. The damages would also be donated to organizations working in digital safety and privacy, the company also pledged.
Internal NSO documents and witness testimony about the Pegasus operation fleshed it out over the course of the trial. NSO was presented with evidence that it supplied governments and intelligence agencies with powerful surveillance tools that could stealthily exfoliate data from smartphones, including messages, emails, GPS location, and microphone and camera access, without the user’s knowledge, according to prosecutors.
The lawsuit also showed that at different times the CIA and FBI both worked with NSO Group to see if they might employ its technology for intelligence. NSO says it only sells its software to vetted government clients, for crimes and terrorism, but the jury found enough evidence the firm was responsible for misuse and unlawful targeting.
All wrongdoing has been denied by NSO Group, which it said intends to appeal the verdict. The company says it acts within a strict legal framework and offers valuable tools for its national security.
This judgment represents a sea change in global debate over spyware and surveillance for hire firms. The ruling could serve as a key precedent in regulating the spyware industry, establishing greater control of digital privacy protections in an age of wider and wider surveillance abilities, legal experts said.
