The company NSO Group ordered to pay $ 168 million to Meta for hacking via the WhatsApp application

It took five and a half years in the procedure to succeed. The Israeli company NSO Group was sentenced on Tuesday May 6, by an Oakland jury (California) to pay nearly $ 168 million (around 148 million euros) of damages to Meta for hacking phones via WhatsApp messaging.

In detail, the jurors awarded META 444,719 dollars for repairs and 167.25 million damages punitive.

Meta accused NSO of having placed, in 2018 and 2019, his PEGASUS spy software on approximately 1,400 mobile phones via Whatsapp, without the knowledge of messaging officials. The Israeli company has thus enabled one of its customers to spy on the exchanges and personal data of the owners of these smartphones.

Meta, which was called Facebook at the time, detected the maneuver, set up additional protections to prevent it and reported the facts to the authorities.

“Today’s verdict is an important step for the protection of personal data and security”Meta commented in a press release published on his site. These are “The first victory against the development and use of illegal spy software”insisted the Menlo Park group, California, owner of WhatsApp.

The imposition of damages will act in “Crucial deterrence” vis-à-vis “Illegal acts” targeting companies and individuals, according to Meta.

NSO Group may appeal

Solicited by the France-Presse agency, NSO Group suggested that it would appeal this decision, evoking “An additional chapter of a long legal process”. The company has already challenged the legality of a trial even before the Supreme Court.

In the event of final conviction and execution of the judgment, this file could bring a very hard financial blow to NSO, whose annual turnover was estimated, in 2021, at 230 million dollars.

“We are convinced that our technology plays an essential role in preventing crimes and terrorism and is used responsible for government agencies that we authorize”added a spokesperson for the Israeli group.

An article from Wall Street Journal had revealed that the hacking of phones by WhatsApp had been carried out on behalf of European States, which watched a suspect in relation to the Islamic State group, suspected of preparing an attack at the time of the Christmas holidays. According to investigators, quoted by the daily, by publicly revealing surveillance and individually warning the 1,400 people followed, including the main suspect, Meta slowed down the progress of the investigation.

NSO has been accused, for several years, of having allowed the surveillance, by governments, of activists, activists, journalists and opponents. In July 2021, a coordinated investigation by several media, to which The world Participated, had revealed a list of more than 50,000 names of individuals likely to have been monitored via Pegasus.