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Spyware maker NSO Group will have to pay more than $167 million in damages to WhatsApp for a 2019 hacking campaign against more than 1,400 users.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, after a five-year legal battle, a jury ruled that NSO Group must pay $167,256,000 in punitive damages and around $444,719 in compensatory damages.<\/p>\n
This is a huge legal win for WhatsApp, which had asked for more than $400,000<\/a> in compensatory damages, based on the time its employees had to dedicate to remediate the attacks, investigate them, and push fixes to patch the vulnerability abused by NSO Group, as well as unspecified punitive damages.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n WhatsApp\u2019s spokesperson Zade Alsawah said in a statement that \u201cour court case has made history as the first victory against illegal spyware that threatens the safety and privacy of everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Alsawah said the ruling \u201cis\u00a0an important step forward for privacy and security\u00a0as the first victory against the development and use of illegal spyware that threatens the safety and privacy of everyone. Today, the jury\u2019s decision to force NSO, a notorious foreign spyware merchant, to pay damages is a critical deterrent to this malicious industry against their illegal acts aimed at American companies and the privacy and security of the people we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n NSO Group\u2019s spokesperson Gil Lainer left the door open for an appeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe will carefully examine the verdict\u2019s details and pursue appropriate legal remedies, including further proceedings and an appeal,\u201d Lainer said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBerkeley, CA<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t The trial, as well as the whole lawsuit, prompted a series of revelations, such as the location of the victims of the 2019 spyware campaign<\/a>, as well as the names of some of NSO Group\u2019s customers<\/a>.<\/p>\n The ruling marks the end \u2014 pending a potential appeal \u2014 of a legal battle that started more than five years ago, when WhatsApp filed a lawsuit against the spyware maker<\/a>. The Meta-owned company accused NSO Group of accessing WhatsApp servers and exploiting an audio-calling vulnerability<\/a> in the chat app to target around 1,400 people, including dissidents, human rights activists, and journalists.\u00a0<\/p>\n Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, explained the lawsuit\u2019s reasoning in a Washington Post op-ed<\/a> at the time, where he said that \u201cthis should serve as a wake-up call for technology companies, governments and all Internet users. Tools that enable surveillance into our private lives are being abused, and the proliferation of this technology into the hands of irresponsible companies and governments puts us all at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n Last December, WhatsApp won<\/a>. Judge Phyllis Hamilton, who presided over the case, ruled that NSO Group was liable for breaching federal and California hacking laws in its 2019 spyware campaign against the 1,400 WhatsApp users. The judge ruled that NSO Group was also liable for breaching WhatsApp\u2019s terms of service, which prohibit the use of the app for malicious purposes.<\/p>\n
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