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Israeli Firm NSO Linked to WhatsApp Hack, Faces Lawsuit Backed by Amnesty International

Accepted submission by takyon at 2019-05-24 10:53:09
Security

Israeli firm linked to WhatsApp spyware attack faces lawsuit [theguardian.com]

The Israeli firm linked to this week's WhatsApp hack [theguardian.com] 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 [theguardian.com] 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 [amnesty.org] 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 [fastcompany.com]
WhatsApp's security breach: Made in Israel, implemented worldwide [dw.com]
WhatsApp Rushes to Fix Security Flaw Exposed in Hacking of Lawyer's Phone [nytimes.com]

Previously: A WhatsApp Call Can Hack a Phone: Zero-Day Exploit Infects Mobiles with Spyware [soylentnews.org]

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


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