The Court in the United States ordered the Israeli company NSO Group, which created the Spy PEGASUS program, pay $ 170 million for hacks hacks in WhatsApp

The Federal Court in the United States ordered the developer of the PEGASUS spy program, the Israeli company NSO Group, to pay the WhatsApp messenger and his META maternal company almost $ 170 million. According to Politico, this is compensation for the fact that NSO Group development was used to hack 1,400 WhatsApp recordings.

“Today's WhatsApp verdict is an important step forward in the field of confidentiality and security, since this is the first victory over the development and use of illegal spy software, which threatens everyone’s safety and confidentiality,” the META website said .

Hacking of 1400 users' accounts, many of which were engaged in human rights activities, occurred in 2019. The crackers took advantage of the vulnerability in the WhatsApp video call system. When it became known about this, the company, the owner of the messenger, went to court. Apple also filed a lawsuit against the NSO Group for the use of spy against it against its users. However, last year the company revoked the lawsuit, deciding that during its consideration, the confidential data of Apple users may be disclosed.

NSO Group said they are considering an appeal. “We are firmly convinced that our technology plays a decisive role in preventing serious crimes and the fight against terrorism and that it is responsible for authorized state bodies,” said a representative of the Israeli company.

The US Department of Trade in 2021 imposed sanctions against the NSO Group, since PEGASUS was used to monitor journalists, human rights activists and dissidents in different countries of the world. The European Parliament was created by the committee to investigate the use of Pegasus in the EU countries. NSO Group claims that it sells equipment only to state customers. With the help of Pegasus, phones of Russian and Belarusian journalists and activists living in the EU were repeatedly attacked.