SAN FRANCISCO: WhatsApp on Tuesday sued Israeli technology firm NSO Group,accusing it of using the Facebook-owned messaging service to conductcyberespionagelinkonjournalists, human rights activists and others.
The suit filed in a California federal court contended that NSO Group triedto infect approximately 1,400 “target devices” with malicious software tosteal valuable information from those using the messaging app.
WhatsApp head Will Cathcart said the lawsuit was filed after aninvestigation showed the Israeli firm’s role in the cyberattack, despiteits denials.
“NSO Group claims they responsibly serve governments, but we found morethan 100 human rights defenders and journalists targeted in an attack lastMay. This abuse must be stopped,” Cathcart said on Twitter.
The lawsuit said the software developed by NSO known as Pegasus wasdesigned to be remotely installed to hijack devices using the Android, iOS,and BlackBerry operating systems.
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The complaint said the attackers “reverse-engineered the WhatsApp app anddeveloped a program to enable them to emulate legitimate WhatsApp networktraffic in order to transmit malicious code” to take over the devices.
“While their attack was highly sophisticated, their attempts to cover theirtracks were not entirely successful,” Cathcart said in an opinion piecepublished in the *Washington Postlink*,noting that the investigation found internet-hosting services and accountsassociated with NSO.
