Facebook sued the Israeli hacker-for-hire
company NSO Group this week in U.S. federal
court 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 says NSO Group violated laws
including the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse
Act with a crafty exploit that took advantage of
a flaw in the popular communications program
allowing a smartphone to be penetrated
through missed calls alone.
“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.