WhatsApp hack: Israel's NSO Group fined $168M for spyware breach
WhatsApp hack: Israel's NSO Group fined $168M for spyware breach
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Mark Zuckerberg's Meta to launch rival ChatGPT app
Mark Zuckerberg's technology conglomerate Meta is set to launch a standalone artificial intelligence app that will rival OpenAI's ChatGPT. The Meta AI App is set to be released in the latter quarter of 2025, with the company hoping it will become a leader in the field by the end of the year.
unbranded - Newsworthy
Israel's NSO Group was handed a $168 million penalty by a federal jury in California on Tuesday for hijacking the servers of WhatsApp in order to hack users of the Meta-owned chat platform on behalf of foreign spy agencies. The case caps a six-year battle between the American social media giant and the surveillance firm. It has also cast an unusual amount of light on the inner workings of the spyware industry.
Here is what we have learned:
Top-shelf spyware is not cheap
Between 2018 and 2020 NSO charged its European government customers a "standard price" of $7 million for use of its platform to hack 15 different devices at a time, according to Sarit Bizinsky Gil, NSO's vice president of global business operations. The executive said the ability to hack a phone outside the customer's country was a separate add-on worth approximately $1 million or $2 million.
"It is a highly sophisticated product," Meta lawyer Antonio Perez told the court in his opening statement, "And it carries a hefty price tag."
NSO hacked thousands of devices
Between 2018 and 2020 the Israeli spyware firm was responsible for breaking into thousands of devices, according to Tamir Gazneli, NSO's vice president of research and development. During the trial, Gazneli said he disagreed with the idea that his company sold "spyware," leading to an exchange with Perez in which Gazneli insisted his firm's tools were used to gather intelligence on targets but "not people."
In case you missed it: Musk, Zuckerberg top Forbes' richest people in world. Who else made the list?
"You don't consider the targets people, Mr. Gazneli?" Perez asked him.
"That's not what I said," he responded. "What I said is that the targets are intelligence targets of intelligence agencies."
American taxpayers sent millions to NSO's coffers
The Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation collectively paid NSO $7.6 million, according to court records. The agencies' past dealings with the Israeli spyware company had previously been disclosed by The New York Times, which said the CIA bankrolled Djibouti's purchase of NSO spyware and the bureau bought it for testing, but the trial put a price tag on the relationship.
NSO targeted WhatsApp's infrastructure during the lawsuit
The lawsuit against NSO did not deter the spyware firm from continuing to abuse WhatsApp's infrastructure, Meta's lawyers said in a court document filed late last month.
"NSO repeatedly targeted Plaintiffs, Plaintiffs' servers, and Plaintiffs' mobile client even after this litigation was filed," the filing said.
The filing seeks a permanent injunction against NSO, which it said "poses a significant threat of ongoing and prospective harm" to Meta, its platform, and its users.
Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by David Gregorio
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
33 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
ChatGPT's Sam Altman sends strong 2-word message on the future
As the AI boom continues to take over both the tech industry and the news cycle, there's one thing that's for sure: it's scaring a lot of people. AI is a technically complex topic that can be difficult to explain to the average person, but there's one sentiment that isn't hard to explain at all: the concept that AI might take your job. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter So rather than try to understand AI's capabilities, or why every major tech company from Meta to Google to Nvidia is pouring billions of dollars into developing it, most people are going to zero in on the part that's personally applicable to them. Related: Cathie Wood has a bold take on AI stealing your job Some voices in the tech space have tried to present an opposite take on the whole "AI making you jobless" rhetoric. Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood said in a recent tweet, "History shows that new technologies create many more jobs than they displace. We do not think that this time will be different." OpenAI's Sam Altman is easily the AI movement's biggest figurehead, thanks to ChatGPT's runaway success. The company hit three million paid ChatGPT subscribers as of June. This proves that people are flocking to it in droves - and away from search engines. Research firm Gartner has even predicted that by 2026, traditional search engine volume will drop 25%. Now Altman has penned a blog post addressing the topic of AI and how it's changing our world. It's a refreshing take that, for once, will give you some hope about the future of your career. Altman's post emphasizes that compared to any time that has come before, the 2030s can be described with two powerful words: "wildly different." Altman offers a reality check, saying, "We are past the event horizon; the takeoff has started. Humanity is close to building digital superintelligence, and at least so far, it's much less weird than it seems like it should be." "We do not know how far beyond human-level intelligence we can go, but we are about to find out," he continued. More Tech Stocks: Palantir gets great news from the PentagonAnalyst has blunt words on Trump's iPhone tariff plansOpenAI teams up with legendary Apple exec The OpenAI CEO doesn't hesitate to say that his company has recently built systems that are "smarter than people in many ways, and are able to significantly amplify the output of people using them." Altman also says ChatGPT is "already more powerful than any human who has ever lived," a phrase that may feel threatening to some, considering that LLMs are not human to begin with. But Altman sees even more ahead, predicting that AI will significantly mold our future. Related: Microsoft has good news for Elon Musk, bad news for Sam Altman "In the 2030s, intelligence and energy - ideas, and the ability to make ideas happen -are going to become wildly abundant. These two have been the fundamental limiters on human progress for a long time; with abundant intelligence and energy (and good governance), we can theoretically have anything else." Altman also acknowledged that, yes, many jobs will go away as AI continues to evolve, but that won't be the end of the story. "The rate of technological progress will keep accelerating, and it will continue to be the case that people are capable of adapting to almost anything," he says. "There will be very hard parts like whole classes of jobs going away, but on the other hand, the world will be getting so much richer so quickly that we'll be able to seriously entertain new policy ideas we never could before. We probably won't adopt a new social contract all at once, but when we look back in a few decades, the gradual changes will have amounted to something big." Altman also points out a key asset of humanity that AI cannot duplicate, saying, "People have a long-term important and curious advantage over AI: we are hard-wired to care about other people and what they think and do, and we don't care very much about machines." Related: OpenAI teams up with legendary Apple exec The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Miami Herald
33 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary warns Americans on 401(k)s
Most American workers generally understand that Social Security monthly paychecks will one day significantly contribute to their future retirement income. But because those Social Security benefits are not by themselves enough to provide people with the financial resources they need to live on comfortably, most also recognize that 401(k) plans and IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) are additional tools necessary for securing their financial future. However, finding the extra money to contribute to these accounts can be a significant challenge. Kevin O'Leary, a prominent entrepreneur and investor widely known for his appearances on ABC's "Shark Tank," shares a method that enables workers to cut expenses and direct more money toward their 401(k) and IRA savings. He also offers a stark financial warning. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter Participating in an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan is a dependable way to build retirement savings, especially when employers offer matching contributions. With automatic payroll deductions, this method allows employees to invest in their future effortlessly, making it both practical and efficient. Related: Jean Chatzky sends strong message to Americans on Social Security IRAs, on the other hand, provide a wider selection of investment options not typically available through 401(k) plans. However, they require more hands-on management, as individuals must open an account and set up automatic contributions independently. In addition to a major warning, O'Leary offers valuable advice on how individuals can cut costs and increase their retirement contributions, which for many Americans primarily consist of 401(k) plans. Many workers who are committed to contributing as much money as they can toward their 401(k) plans find it difficult to do so because their spending habits leave little left to put away for the future. In fact, O'Leary emphasizes, many people spend more than they make - and are working in large part to finance their debts and pay their bills. "You are in constant fear of losing your job, or of your assets losing their value. You worry that one big, unexpected bill might put you under for good, and then you avoid that thought," described O'Leary in his book, "Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women and Money." "You're avoiding the phone and people to whom you owe money. Maybe you're retreating from friends and family out of fear or shame," O'Leary continued. "You're steeped in magical thinking about money - for example, believing you're one lottery ticket, inheritance, or windfall away from total financial transformation." "You wake up in despair and you go to bed defeated. You don't live within your means because you don't even know what they are." More on retirement: Jean Chatzky shares major statement about Social SecurityDave Ramsey sounds alarm for Americans on retirementScott Galloway warns Americans on 401(k), US economy threat O'Leary explains that people who feel this describes them to any degree should correct it immediately. He offers a first step people can take to get a handle on where they stand financially. Related: Dave Ramsey warns Americans on Social Security In order to increase retirement savings and add a larger percentage of their income to 401(k) plans, people first need to get a good feel for where they are financially. O'Leary suggests simplifying money management down to a single figure - either positive or negative. He encourages individuals to calculate their total earnings over three months, calling this their 90-Day Number. The process starts with identifying income. If pay stubs aren't easily accessible, reviewing bank statements can help track all incoming funds, including salaries, side jobs, and other sources of cash flow. Next, he recommends listing all expenses separately - small purchases such as coffee, clothing, and snacks, as well as major costs such as bills, debt payments, rent, and car loans. The key step is subtracting total expenses from total income. If the result is positive, the individual is in good financial shape and can immediately consider increasing their 401(k) contributions. A negative outcome signals a need for adjustments. The extent of necessary changes depends on how much spending exceeds earnings, requiring smarter budgeting to create space for investments in long-term financial security, O'Leary explains. In the latter instance - after some planning, budgeting and hard work - a person can still reach the point of increasing investments in their 401(k) plans. Related: Dave Ramsey sends major message to Americans on IRAs, Roth IRAs The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Washington Post
37 minutes ago
- Washington Post
‘This is coming for everyone': A new kind of AI bot takes over the web
People are replacing Google search with artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, a major shift that has unleashed a new kind of bot loose on the web. To offer users a tidy AI summary instead of Google's '10 blue links,' companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic have started sending out bots to retrieve and recap content in real time. They are scraping webpages and loading relevant content into the AI's memory and 'reading' far more content than a human ever would.
