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posted by martyb on Friday May 24 2019, @07:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the No-Such-Organization dept.

Israeli firm linked to WhatsApp spyware attack faces lawsuit

The Israeli firm linked to this week's WhatsApp hack is facing a lawsuit backed by Amnesty International, which says it fears its staff may be under surveillance from spyware installed via the messaging service.

The human rights group's concerns are detailed in a lawsuit filed in Israel by about 50 members and supporters of Amnesty International Israel and others from the human rights community. It has called on the country's ministry of defence to ban the export of NSO's Pegasus software, which can covertly take control of a mobile phone, copy its data and turn on the microphone for surveillance.

An affidavit from Amnesty is at the heart of the case, and concludes that "staff of Amnesty International have an ongoing and well-founded fear they may continue to be targeted and ultimately surveilled" after a hacking attempt last year.

NSO Group, founded in 2010, supplies industry-leading surveillance software to governments that it says is for tackling terrorism and serious crime, and has been licensed to dozens of countries including Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Bahrain and the UAE.

But there have been a string of complaints in the past few months, documented largely by the Toronto-based Citizen Lab, that the technology has been used to target human rights groups, activists and journalists by several countries – and that there has been no attempt to rein it in.

See also: After WhatsApp hack, NSO faces scrutiny from Facebook and UK public pension fund
WhatsApp's security breach: Made in Israel, implemented worldwide
WhatsApp Rushes to Fix Security Flaw Exposed in Hacking of Lawyer's Phone

Previously: A WhatsApp Call Can Hack a Phone: Zero-Day Exploit Infects Mobiles with Spyware

Related: Israeli Spy Tech Company Allegedly Cracks WhatsApp Encryption (2016)
Former NSO Employee Arrested After Attempting to Sell Spyware for $50 Million
Agents Target Researchers who Reported Software that Spied on Jamal Khashoggi before his Death


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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 24 2019, @08:57PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 24 2019, @08:57PM (#847354)

    The USA is merely a golem for Israel cf. the following:

      - The Oded Yinon Plan of 1982 [globalresearch.ca] and cross reference it with the list of countries in the Middle East that have been invaded by the US military.
      - Stuxnext [washingtonpost.com], sanctioned by Obama, created by US and Israeli security firms, and the current Israeli/US conquest against Iran.
      - Donald [bbc.com] Trump's [bbc.com] pro-Israel [bbc.com] policies.

    Saudi, OTOH, why do they have membership of the UN again, exactly? Their human rights record is absurd.

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  • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday May 24 2019, @09:36PM (1 child)

    by vux984 (5045) on Friday May 24 2019, @09:36PM (#847367)

    "Saudi, OTOH, why do they have membership of the UN again, exactly? Their human rights record is absurd."

    I don't think you know what the UN is.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 24 2019, @09:53PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 24 2019, @09:53PM (#847373)

      The world needs a good supply of fresh glass free from impurities.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 26 2019, @09:51AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 26 2019, @09:51AM (#847844)