Almost $ 168 million punishment for WhatsApp monitoring
Due to spying attacks on WhatsApp users, a developer of surveillance software should pay almost $ 168 million at the Facebook group Meta. Jury in California decided that Meta from the Israeli company NSO is almost $ 445,000 as damages – plus a penalty payment of $ 167.25 million. NSO wants to examine an appeal, a spokesman told the technology log « The Verge ».
The Facebook group had sued NSO in 2019 after the company had been able to insert its surveillance software with the name Pegasus on smartphones via a weak point.
Software was also used against journalists
Pegasus was then able to switch on the camera and microphone unnoticed for users, access e-mails and text messages and access location data. The software was used, among other things, against journalists and activists.
The court decided in December that the procedure of NSO violated laws. The current procedure dealt with the amount of the punishment. In the process, nso argued that the company’s technology supported investigative authorities and secret services. However, the US government put the company on a black list in 2021.
