Apple sues NSO Group, Israeli company that created Pegasus spyware

The American tech giant Apple sued spyware maker NSO on Tuesday for targeting users of its devices, claiming the Israeli company at the center of the Pegasus surveillance scandal must be held accountable.

The giant’s demand for Silicon Valley adds new issues for NSO, which was embroiled in controversy over reports that Tens of thousands of activists, journalists, and politicians were listed as potential targets for his Pegasus spyware.

Just a few weeks ago, US authorities restricted relations between the NSO and US groups over allegations that the Israeli firm “Allowed foreign governments to carry out a transnational repression”.

“To prevent further abuse and harm to its users, Apple is also seeking a permanent injunction to prohibit the NSO Group from using any Apple software, service, or device.”, the Californian company said in a statement released to announce the lawsuit.

“The defendants are notorious hackers, amoral mercenaries of the 21st century who have created a highly sophisticated cyber surveillance machine that invites routine and blatant abuse”noted the firm in your case.

Surveillance vs. Truth

“State sponsored actors like the NSO Group spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without effective accountability. That must change “, underlined Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at Apple.

NSO has consistently denied any wrongdoing and reacted to the ad by insisting that its software is intended to be used by authorities only in the fight against terrorism and other crimes.

“Pedophiles and terrorists are free to operate in safe tech havens, and we provide governments with the legal tools to combat it. The NSO group will continue to advocate for the truth”said the firm in a statement to the AFP.

“This cannot be good news for NSO, which reportedly is in danger of financial default with more than $ 500 million in debt, a recent leadership shakeup with its CEO and also France pulls out of a planned buyout after US sanctions “, assured Jake Williams, from the cybersecurity firm BreachQuest.

“Mercenary spyware”

In 2019, Facebook sued NSO Group, accusing him of use WhatsApp to conduct cyber espionage against journalists, human rights activists and others.

That lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, alleged that approximately 1,400 devices were attacked with malicious software to steal valuable information from those who used the messaging application.

Smartphones infected with Pegasus essentially become pocket spy devices, allowing users to read the messages of the target user, look at their photos, track their location and even turn on their camera without them knowing.

UN experts have called for an international moratorium on the sale of surveillance technology until regulations to protect human rights are implemented after the Pegasus scandal.

Following the initial concern about Pegasus, a subsequent wave of fears emerged when the manufacturer of iPhone released a fix in September to cover a weak flank that may allow spyware to infect devices without users even clicking on a malicious link or message.

The call “Click zero” can silently corrupt the target device and was identified by researchers from Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog organization in Canada.

Mercenary spyware companies like NSO Group have facilitated some of the worst transnational human rights abuses and repression in the world, while enriching themselves and their investors “said the director of Citizen Lab, Ron Deibert.

Research by a European rights group published in early November found that Pegasus spyware was used to hack into the phones of the staff of Palestinian civil society groups targeted by the Israeli government.

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