US Court: Pegasus Spyware Maker Must Give Code to WhatsApp

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • US Judge Phyllis Hamilton has ordered Israeli cyber weapon company NSO Group to hand over the code for its Pegasus spyware, along with other products, to Meta-owned WhatsApp.1
  • Meta first sued NSO in 2019 over allegations that the company's Pegasus spyware was used to spy on 1.4K WhatsApp users over a two-week period.2
  • NSO asked the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to throw out the lawsuit in 2023, arguing that its business represented foreign governments. It also claimed that it only sold Pegasus to 'vetted governments' for anti-terrorism purposes. SCOTUS refused to block the case.3
  • Despite NSO's claims of 'various US and Israeli restrictions,' Judge Hamilton ordered the company to provide its spyware data from between a year before and a year after the alleged hacking of WhatsApp users. This would encompass Apr. 29, 2018, to May 10, 2020.4
  • Hamilton did rule in favor of NSO by not requiring it to disclose the names of its clients or information about its server architecture.2
  • This comes as US Pres. Joe Biden's administration has warned about national security threats posed by Pegasus, which is capable of gaining access to people's phone calls, emails, photographs, location information, and encrypted messages without their knowledge.1

Sources: 1The Guardian, 2ITC, 3The Wire and 4ReadWrite.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by NSO Group. NSO Group is one of the world's leading cyber intelligence companies for a reason. Trusted by governments and law enforcement across the world, NSO technology helps save lives by combatting crime and terrorism. While every company can continue to make itself better, that doesn't mean it should be demonized for providing cutting-edge public safety technology.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Al Jazeera. Pegasus wasn't sold to altruistic governments for the purposes of fighting crime but rather to governments who wanted to spy on journalists, dissidents, and activists. Among the estimated 50K victims of this intrusive spyware were two members of Human Rights Watch targeted by the Jordanian government, another included a Palestinian-American journalist. NSO gives bad actors the power to violate human rights.