WhatsApp sued but NSO Group kept unleashing Pegasus spyware on users
Last week, Meta won the Rs 1,400 crore lawsuit against Israeli firm NSO Group in the Pegasus spyware case. The lawsuit was filed by Meta's WhatsApp in 2019 after a research found that the NSO Group hacked into the WhatsApp account of 1,400 users by injecting the Pegasus spyware, which was done by taking advantage of a vulnerability in its audio call feature. On May 6, 2025, the 5-year-long legal battle between Meta and NSO Group concluded, and the jury trial ruled that the Israeli company was guilty of hacking into the accounts of thousands of WhatsApp users. advertisementHowever, the transcripts of the trial's proceedings were accessed by TechCrunch, which revealed an interesting – if we can call it that – thing about the Pegasus attacks. Reportedly, the NSO Group admitted during the trial that even after Meta had sued the company for the WhatsApp hacks, it continued to target WhatsApp users. Apparently, NSO Group's research and development vice president, Tamir Gazneli, acknowledges that the Pegasus-maker was rolling out targeted attacks between late 2019 to May 2020. Gazneli revealed that the spyware codenamed 'Erised', which was one of the WhatsApp zero-click vectors, was pushed during that period of time. Reminder: Meta sued the NSO Group in October 2019. As per the NSO Group's executive, the company was using other versions of the spyware as well, which were codenamed 'Eden' and 'Heaven', and collectively the three versions were called 'Hummingbird'. advertisement
The Pegasus attacks were first spotted and highlighted by Citizen Lab, which had revealed that the company was infecting smartphones with spyware via phone calls. This was regardless of the user answering the call. If the spyware call went on their device, their phone would be infected. This led to the spyware taking control over the infected device's camera and microphone, which allowed it to access call records, messages, emails, locations and even passwords in some scenarios. The cyberattack primarily focused on journalists, human rights defenders, and diplomats, impacting users across more than 50 countries. Court documents filed last month revealed that India accounted for at least 100 of the 1,400 identified targets. These attacks are believed to have occurred within just two months, between April and May 2019.In 2021, Apple took legal action against the NSO Group, accusing it of deploying Pegasus spyware to infiltrate iPhones. At the time, Apple stated that it was pursuing a permanent court order to block the company from accessing any of its software, services, or devices.Last year, in December 2024, a US court found the NSO Group responsible for the hacking incidents involving WhatsApp. Earlier this month, Meta won the case against NSO Group.
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