Jury Orders NSO Group to Pay Over $167 Million to WhatsApp for Spying on Users

• NSO Group was ordered to pay north of $167 million in damages to Meta’s WhatsApp subsidiary.
• The Israeli company also needs to hand over north of $444,000 in compensatory damages.
• The damages are part of a lawsuit filed in 2019, with Meta accusing NSO Group of exploiting flaws in WhatsApp for cyberattacks.

A federal jury in Northern California has ordered Israeli spyware company NSO Group to pay $168 million in damages to WhatsApp, a subsidiary of Meta, over its role in deploying the infamous Pegasus spyware to hack the accounts of 1,400 users globally. 

The jury awarded $167,254,000 in punitive damages, citing NSO's deliberate role in bypassing security measures and facilitating malicious activity.

Additionally, $444,719 was granted in compensatory damages to reimburse WhatsApp for the significant resources its engineers dedicated to countering these hack attempts, as first reported by TechCrunch.

Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, first filed the lawsuit in 2019, accusing NSO Group of exploiting vulnerabilities in WhatsApp's systems to carry out cyberattacks. According to the court, NSO continued to conduct these attacks even after WhatsApp implemented security patches to block the exploit.

WhatsApp issued a statement celebrating the historic outcome, calling it a major victory for privacy and cybersecurity.

NSO's Pegasus spyware has long been criticized for its misuse by governments to target activists, journalists, and members of civil society. Pegasus employs zero-click exploits to compromise devices running both Android and iOS.

During the trial, NSO executives admitted that Pegasus remains capable of compromising instant messaging platforms, web browsers, and mobile operating systems.

Throughout the trial, NSO argued that its software was designed to help governments combat terrorism and serious crimes. However, Judge Phyllis Hamilton blocked the company from presenting evidence to support these claims, as NSO asserted it had no control over how clients use its technology post-sale.

An NSO spokesperson indicated that the company is considering an appeal, reiterating their position on Pegasus as a critical tool for law enforcement and national security concerns.