WhatsApp awarded $168 million by U.S. jury in NSO Group cyberespionage suit
The Hindu
WhatsApp accused NSO of cyberespionage targeting journalists, lawyers, human rights activists and others.
A U.S. jury on Tuesday handed WhatsApp a major victory in its cyberespionage suit against NSO Group, ordering the Israel-based firm to pay some $168 million in damages.
Meta-owned WhatsApp sued NSO in late 2019 in federal court in Northern California, accusing it of planting Pegasus spy software on the smartphones of targets using the messaging app.
"This trial put spyware executives on the stand and exposed exactly how their surveillance-for-hire system — shrouded in so much secrecy — operates," Meta said in a blog post.
"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."
Pegasus software also enables smartphone cameras or microphones to be remotely turned on without letting users know, according to Meta.
WhatsApp accused NSO of cyberespionage targeting journalists, lawyers, human rights activists and others on the Facebook-owned messaging service.
A jury on Tuesday found that NSO should pay WhatsApp $444,719 in compensatory damages and another $167,254,000 in punitive damages intended to discourage repeating the behavior that landed it in court.
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