Israeli-based spyware developer NSO Group has been ordered to pay more than $167 million in damages to WhatsApp for a 2019 hacking campaign using a spyware tool called ‘Pegasus’ that compromised the accounts of over 1,400 users.
After a five-year courtroom battle, a jury ruled that NSO Group must pay $167,254,000 in punitive damages and approximately $444,719 in compensatory damages to the Meta-owned messaging platform. The decision marks a significant victory for WhatsApp, which filed suit against the surveillance firm in 2019.
WhatsApp accused NSO Group of exploiting a vulnerability in its audio-calling feature to install surveillance software on targeted devices. Among the victims were journalists, human rights defenders, and political dissidents. The company claimed the intrusion forced its employees to spend considerable time and resources remediating the attacks, investigating the breach, and deploying security patches.
The jury awarded slightly more than WhatsApp’s request for compensatory damages, which had been estimated at over $400,000. However, the bulk of the ruling came in the form of punitive damages, intended to penalize NSO for what the court deemed a willful and malicious attack.
“This trial also revealed that WhatsApp was far from NSO’s only target. While we stopped the attack vector that exploited our calling system in 2019, Pegasus has had many other spyware installation methods to exploit other companies’ technologies to manipulate people’s devices into downloading malicious code and compromising their phones,” Meta said in a statement. “NSO was forced to admit that it spends tens of millions of dollars annually to develop malware installation methods including through instant messaging, browsers, and operating systems, and that its spyware is capable of compromising iOS or Android devices to this day.”
NSO Group, which has long defended its technology as a tool for law enforcement and intelligence agencies, signaled that it may appeal the decision.
“We will carefully examine the verdict’s details and pursue appropriate legal remedies, including further proceedings and an appeal,” NSO spokesperson Gil Lainer said.
