US Court Finds Pegasus Maker Liable For Hacking WhatsApp, Congress Asks 'Who're These Users?'
A US court has ruled that NSO Group hacked WhatsApp's servers to install spyware software Pegasus.
In a relief to WhatsApp, a US court has found Israeli firm NSO Group of hacking into WhatsApp by sending malicious software through its servers to more than a thousand targeted phones.
The development comes months after a probe suggested that the software was used to spy on many Indians including journalists, politicians, and leaders of opposition.
California District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton granted the Meta-owned messaging service platform's motion for summary judgment against NSTO, finding the five-year-old case that it had violated the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act with the pernicious spying program known as Pegasus, reported The Washington Post.
The court also found that WhatsApp was entitled to sanctions against NSO as it refused to turn over the source code for the software in discovery, with the penalty to be determined later. The Judge ruled that the case should not proceed to trial only to determine the amount NSO should pay in civil damages as the underlying legal issues were settled.
Following the judgment, WhatsApp spokesperson Carl Woog said the company believed the ruling is the first to hold a major spyware vendor responsible for breaking the fundamental US hacking law, as well as California's state version of it.
“We’re grateful for today’s decision,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement. “NSO can no longer avoid accountability for their unlawful attacks on WhatsApp, journalists, human rights activists and civil society. With this ruling, spyware companies should be on notice that their illegal actions will not be tolerated.”
Congress Slams PM Modi After Court Ruling
The Congress party slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging him of "hijacking" democracy in the country through espionage.
"Pegasus espionage exposed in America. Now the verdict in the Pegasus spyware case proves how 300 Indians were targeted in the illegal spyware racket," said Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala in a post on X.
"Truth cannot be hidden even in India...and The truth is that the Modi government has hijacked democracy through espionage," he added.
The #PegasusSpyware case verdict proves how 300 what’sapp numbers of Indians were targeted in the illegal spyware racket.
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) December 22, 2024
Time for Modi Govt to answer :
👉 Who are the 300 names targeted ! Who are the two Union Ministers? Who are the three Opposition leaders? Who is the…
In 2021, the Modi government was accused of using Pegasus to surveil journalists, and opposition politicians, activisits with leaked documents showing the spyware was installed on over 1,000 Indian phone numbers. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi was also among those targeted.
Surjewala asked Modi Government to answer the 300 names who were targeted through the spyware. He also called on Meta to released the names of Indians who were targeted by Pegasus.
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