A federal judge in the United States has delivered a mixed ruling in a landmark case against Israeli spyware maker NSO Group, permanently barring the company from targeting WhatsApp and its users while simultaneously slashing a massive financial penalty imposed by a jury.
US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton granted a permanent injunction against NSO Group, prohibiting it from exploiting vulnerabilities in the Meta-owned messaging service. The ruling cited the court’s conclusion that NSO’s conduct “causes irreparable harm” and is ongoing, reports agencies.
However, in a significant financial reprieve for the embattled surveillance firm, Judge Hamilton drastically reduced a damages award from $168 million to just $4 million. She ruled that NSO’s actions, while unlawful, did not meet the “particularly egregious” standard required to support the jury’s original penalty calculation.
The legal battle, initiated by Meta in 2019, accused NSO of orchestrating a cyber-espionage campaign that used WhatsApp’s servers to deliver its Pegasus spyware to the phones of approximately 1,400 “target devices.”
According to evidence presented at trial, NSO engineers reverse-engineered WhatsApp’s code to stealthily install malicious software, repeatedly redesigning it to evade detection and bypass the platform’s security updates.
The lawsuit alleged that journalists, human rights activists, lawyers, and other civil society members were among those targeted. The attackers were said to have developed a program to mimic legitimate WhatsApp network traffic, transmitting malicious code to take control of devices.
“We applaud this decision that comes after 6 years of litigation to hold NSO accountable for targeting members of civil society,” said Will Cathcart, Head of WhatsApp. “Today’s ruling bans spyware maker NSO from ever targeting WhatsApp and our global users again.”
NSO Group, founded in 2010 and based in Herzliya, Israel, has consistently stated it only licenses its Pegasus software to government clients for combating crime and terrorism. The highly invasive tool can effectively turn a smartphone into a pocket spy, accessing its camera, microphone, and data.
In her ruling, Judge Hamilton noted the evolving nature of digital privacy law, writing, “As time goes on, more of a shared societal consensus may emerge about the acceptability of defendants’ conduct.”
The legal development comes as media reports indicate a US investment group has acquired a controlling interest in NSO Group.
