An American judge ruled Friday in favor of the WhatsApp application, owned by Meta Platforms, in a lawsuit accusing the Israeli group NSO of having exploited a flaw in the messaging application to install spyware, allowing surveillance 1,400 people.
Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, found that NSO Group was liable for the hack and breach of contract.
Hamilton said the trial would now be focused on the issue of damages only. NSO Group did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart said the move represented a victory for privacy. “We have spent five years presenting our case because we firmly believe that spyware companies cannot hide behind impunity or avoid accountability for their illegal actions,” he added in a statement. message on social networks.
“Surveillance companies need to know that illegal spying will not be tolerated,” he added.
A WhatsApp spokesperson said it was grateful for the decision.
He added: “We are proud to stand up to the NSO Group and thank the many organizations who have supported this cause. WhatsApp will never stop working to protect people’s private communications.”
Cybersecurity experts welcomed the move.
Historic decision
John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Canadian Internet monitoring lab Citizen Lab, called the decision historic, saying it will have “major implications for the spyware industry.”
“The entire industry has hid behind the claim that it is not responsible for everything customers do with their hacking tools,” he said in a letter. “Today’s decision makes it clear that NSO Group is in fact responsible for violating numerous laws.”
In 2019, WhatsApp filed a lawsuit against NSO Group seeking an injunction and damages, accusing it of accessing WhatsApp servers without authorization six months ago to install Pegasus on targeted people’s mobile devices.
The lawsuit said the hack allowed surveillance of 1,400 people, including journalists, human rights activists and opponents.
NSO says the Pegasus program helps law enforcement and intelligence agencies fight crime and protect national security, and its technology aims to help stop terrorists, child molesters and criminals hardened.
NSO filed a legal challenge in 2020 against the refusal to grant it “conduct-based immunity,” a common law principle that protects foreign officials acting in their official capacity.
But the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the decision in 2021.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected NSO Group’s appeal to a lower court, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.