WhatsApp Pegasus Case: Meta Wins INR 1,400 Crore in Lawsuit Filed Against Pegasus Spyware-Maker NSO Group
Mark Zuckerberg's Meta won a INR 1,400 crore (USD 167.25 million) lawsuit against Israel's NSO Group, maker of Pegasus spyware. A US federal jury also ordered NSO Group to pay INR 3.7 crore in damages. WhatsApp pegasus attack targeted over 1,400 individuals globally.
Los Angeles, May 7: Mark Zuckerberg's Meta won an INR 1,400 crore (USD 167.25 million) lawsuit against Israel's NSO Group, which made the Pegasus spyware. The federal jury overseeing the case said that besides the penalty, NSO Group was liable to reward Meta USD 4,44,719 (around INR 3.7 crore) reward in compensation damages. The federal judge ruled that the Israeli company had violated the laws of the United States by using WhatsApp servers to inject Pegasus spyware that targeted over 1,400 individuals in the world.
Meta sued NSO Group for a WhatsApp hack using the notorious Pegasus spyware in 2019. The hacking attempt was first identified by Citizen Lab, which said that the spyware had affected the smartphones via a phone call without enabling the users to answer calls. Once Pegasus infected the phone, it took over the control of its camera and microphone via remote execution. Sarvam AI Unveils ‘Bulbul V2’ Speech Model With 11 Indian Languages With Natural, Realistic Accents.
After a successful WhatsApp hack, the spyware was able to access all the call records of the users and check their messages, emails, locations they visited and so on. NSO Group's Pegasus spyware targeted high-profile WhatsApp users, including journalists, political dissidents and human rights activists.
Meta informed via post, "Today's verdict in WhatsApp's case is an important step forward for privacy and security as the first victory against the development and use of illegal spyware that threatens the safety and privacy of everyone." Further, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta said that the jury's decision to force NSO, a merchant of notorious foreign spyware, was critical to the malicious industry against their illegal acts aimed at targeting US-based companies and compromising people's privacy and security reportedly during April to May in 2019. In 2021, Apple also sued Pegasus-developer NSO Group for targeting iPhone users. Amazon Project Kiro: Jeff Bezon-Run Company Developing AI Coding Tool To Streamline Software Coding, Likely To Launch in Late June.
Court documents reveal that 456 Mexicans and individuals in 50 other countries were targeted using the Pegasus spyware. The attacks exploited a zero-day flaw in WhatsApp's voice-calling feature (CVE-2019-3568). In May 2019, Pegasus was delivered via WhatsApp's California servers 43 times. A U.S. court ruled in December 2024 that NSO Group violated federal and state laws.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 07, 2025 02:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).