Israeli spyware maker NSO found liable in WhatsApp hacking lawsuit

A California court found NSO Group liable for hacking WhatsApp, violating laws and breaching contract, as WhatsApp seeks damages for spyware use.

In a significant first, a Californian court found Israeli spyware maker NSO Group liable for hacking WhatsApp’s servers in a lawsuit brought by the Meta-owned platform in 2019. The court will now determine the damages.

After WhatsApp’s lawsuit, the company in June 2021 had started releasing a transparency and accountability report (REUTERS)

The district court of Northern District of California concluded that the NSO Group had violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act (CDAFA) and Californian Penal Code, and breached its contract with WhatsApp by using it