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Tuesday, WhatsApp achieved a big win against the NSO group When a jury instructs the infamous spyware manufacturer to pay more than $ 167 million compensation to a meta-owned company.
This verdict has ended a wide legal battle for more than five years, which began in October 2019 WhatsApp accused NSO group Hacking to more than 1,400 users with the vulnerability of the chat app Audio-coling effectivenessThe
The verdict came after a week -long jury trial that NSO Group CEO Yaron Shohat and WhatsApp employees were featured in a number of testimonials who responded and investigated the incident.
The case was looking for several publications including the NSO group before the trial began Its official customers cut off 10 For abusing its pegasus spyware, The position of the victims of 1,223 Spyware promotion and spyware manufacturer’s three customers names: Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.
Read the TakeCrunch trial hearing and highlighting the most interesting information and manifestations published. We will update this post because we learn more from the cache of more than a thousand pages.
Testima describes how WhatsApp attacks did
The VacuumWhich means that the spyware did not require any interaction from the goal, “Target worked with a fake WhatsApp phone call,” WhatsApp lawyer Antonio Perez said during the trial. The lawyer explained that the NSO group created a special machine called “WhatsApp Installation Server”, which is a special machine designed to transmit contamined messages by duplicating WhatsApp infrastructure.
“Once received, these messages will trigger the user’s phone to reach the third server and download the Pegasus Spyware. This is only needed to make it the phone number,” Perez said.
Tamir Gazelini, vice-president of the NSO Group’s research and development, testified that “Any zero-channel solution is an important milestone for Pegasus.”
The NSO Group confirmed that it noticed an American phone number as an FBI test
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Do you have more information about NSO groups, or other spyware companies? From a non-work device and network, you can contact Lorenzo Francesi-BICCichiyrai to +1 917 257 1382, or Telegram and Kibes @Lorenzfby, or E -mailThe
For years, the NSO group has claimed that its spyware cannot be used against American phone numbers, which means a cell number that starts with the +1 country code.
In 2022, The New York Times first reported The company that “attacked” a US phone was part of a test for the FBI.
NSO Group lawyer Joe Acritirianakis confirmed that “single exception” was a specially configured version of Pegasus, not being able to notice the +1 numbers, which was used to protest possible US government customers. “
FBI The news has been chosen Pegasus do not deploy after his test.
How does the NSO group government customers use pegasus
NSO chief executive officer Shuhat explained that the user interface of Pegasas for his government customers does not provide the option to use any hacking method or technique against their interested target, “because customers do not use any vector until they get the necessary intelligence.”
In other words, it is a pigsus system in the back -end that picks up a hacking technology, known as a AbsorptionEach time spyware is used to use a person aimed at.
NSO Group’s headquarters shares the same building as Apple
In a fun coincidence, the NSO group Headquarters Israel is in the same building in Herzlia in the suburbs of Tel Aviv in Israel As appleWhose iPhone customers are often targeted by NSO Pegasus Spyware. Shuhat said that the NSO occupied the top five -storey and Apple occupied the rest of the 14 -storey building.
“We share the same lift when we get up,” Shohat said during the testimony.
The NSO group’s headquarters has been publicly advertised that it is somewhat interesting. Other companies that develop like spyware or zero-day BarcelonaWhich Closed in FebruaryIt is located in a co-worker when claiming to be located somewhere on his official website.
The NSO Group admits that it is targeting WhatsApp users after the case is filed
After the spyware attack, WhatsApp filed his case against the NSO group in November 2019. Despite the active legal challenges, spyware makers are targeting users of the chat app, according to Tamir Gazeli, Vice President of NSO Group’s Research and Development.
Gazeli said that the codonam of one of the versions of WhatsApp Zero-Chinese vector was used by “Erizid”, from May to late May 2021, The other versions were called “Eden” and “paradise” and three were known as “Hummingbirds”.
NSO says it hiring hundreds of people
NSO Group Chief Executive Officer Yaron Shohat has a small but significant details: NSO Group and its main company Q Cyber, total employees between 350 and 380. About 50 of these employees work for Qi Ceber.
The NSO group describes fatal money
During the trial, Shohat answered questions about the company’s financial, some of which were published in the statement before the trial. These details were raised with how much compensation should be paid to the spyware manufacturer in WhatsApp.
According to Shuhat and documents supplied by the NSO Group, Spyware maker lost $ 1 million in 2021 and $ 12 million in 2021. The company also revealed that its bank account has $ 1.5 million as 2021 and $ 1.5 million in the bank as 2021. Nowadays, the company burns through about $ 1 million a month.
Also, it was revealed that the bank was about $ 3.2 million in both Cyber ​​Cyber ​​2023 and 2024.
During the trial, the NSO has published its research and development unit – responsible for finding weaknesses in the software and how to use them – spent about $ 12 million in 2021 and spent $ 59 million in 2021. Shuhat also said that the NSO group customers “somewhere” pay “somewhere” to access the page for “ten times” in “$ 3 million”.
In these numbers, the factory, spyware manufacturer was hoping to escape by providing a little or any compensation.
“Frankly, I don’t think we were able to give something. We are fighting to put our head on top of water,” Shohat said when he testified. “We are committed to me [chief financial officer] Only to ensure that we have enough money to prioritize expenses and to fulfill our promises and obviously on a weekly basis. “
The first was published on May 10, 2025 and updated with additional details.