• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
  • Contact us
  • Guest Content
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Elevenses
  • Business
  • Food
  • Travel
  • Property
  • JOBS
  • All
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Sport
    • Tech/Auto
    • Lifestyle
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Set For Life
      • Thunderball
      • EuroMillions
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News Media

Facebook suing Israeli company over ‘WhatsApp spyware’

The social networks says the lawsuit is the first of its kind.

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
2019-10-30 14:13
in Media, News
Credit;PA

Credit;PA

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

Facebook is suing the Israeli hacker-for-hire company NSO Group for allegedly targeting some 1,400 users of its encrypted messaging service WhatsApp with highly sophisticated spyware.

The lawsuit filed in San Francisco is the first legal action of its kind, according to Facebook, involving a nearly totally unregulated realm.

Facebook said NSO Group violated laws including the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act with an exploit that took advantage of a flaw in the popular communications application allowing a smartphone to be penetrated through missed calls alone.

Targeted

“It targeted at least 100 human-rights defenders, journalists and other members of civil society across the world,” the head of WhatsApp, Will Cathart, wrote in an op-ed published by The Washington Post.

He said that since discovering the malware operation in May, Facebook learned the attackers were using servers and internet-hosting services previously associated with NSO Group.

NSO Group, which has been widely condemned for selling surveillance tools to repressive governments, issued a statement in which it did not directly deny hacking WhatsApp but which said it disputed the allegations and vowed to “vigorously fight them”.

“The sole purpose of NSO is to provide technology to licensed government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to help them fight terrorism and serious crime,” the company said.

“Our technology is not designed or licensed for use against human rights activists and journalists. It has helped to save thousands of lives over recent years.”

It said strongly encrypted platforms are used by paedophile rings, drug traffickers and terrorists and that NSO’s technologies “provide proportionate, lawful solutions”.

RelatedPosts

UK must be prepared for war with Russia by 2030, former British Army chief warns

Donald Trump to be ‘denied access to Parliament’ on state visit

UK spies given list of nine British towns Russia would bomb first

Government scrap plans to upgrade ‘worst A-road in the country’

Facebook demands in the suit that NSO Group be denied access to Facebook’s services and systems and seeks unspecified damages.

Mr Cathart said leaders of tech firms “should join UN (free speech) Special Rapporteur David Kaye’s call for an immediate moratorium on the sale, transfer and use of dangerous spyware”.

“This is huge. I am really glad to see a tech company put their massive litigation team on the field on behalf of users,” tweeted Alex Stamos, a Stanford University researcher and former Facebook chief security officer.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is the world’s most popular communications software, with about 1.5 billion users in 180 countries.

The lawsuit alleges that malicious code from NSO was sent from April 29 through May 10 over WhatsApp servers.

The aim was to infect some 1,400 devices whose users included lawyers, journalists, human rights activists, political dissidents, diplomats and other government officials.

It said the targeted phone numbers were in countries including Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Mexico.

NSO’s spyware has repeatedly been found deployed to target such people. Most notably, the spyware was implicated in the gruesome killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year and whose body has never been found.

Tags: FacebookWhatsapp

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Commercial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

© The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE thelondoneconomic.com - All Rights Reserved. Privacy

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Lottery Results
    • Lotto
    • Set For Life
    • Thunderball
    • EuroMillions
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE thelondoneconomic.com - All Rights Reserved. Privacy

← Pilots ‘can’t spot drones as they approach runways’ warns shock new study ← Three million households in England and Wales struggle to afford water bills
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Lottery Results
    • Lotto
    • Set For Life
    • Thunderball
    • EuroMillions
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE thelondoneconomic.com - All Rights Reserved. Privacy

-->