Pegasus scandal continues: US court fines Israeli company $170 million

A major US spying case has come to an end. A California district court has found the Israeli company NSO Group, which developed the Pegasus program that threatened the security of WhatsApp messenger users and its owner Meta, liable and ordered it to pay about $ 170 million in damages. This was reported by Politico.

The lawsuit began in October 2019, when it was revealed that NSO Group had spread the Pegasus spyware to more than 1.4 thousand smartphones using vulnerabilities in WhatsApp. Among these devices were the phones of journalists, human rights activists, as well as diplomats from countries such as Bahrain, the UAE and Mexico.

According to Meta's official statement, the court decision is the result of the company's security efforts, and now NSO Group will be excluded from carrying out any attacks on WhatsApp. Meta will also direct the funds paid by NSO Group to international organizations that protect digital rights and personal data.

NSO Group, however, denied the criticism of the Pegasus program. According to company representatives, the program is used responsibly by state governments only to prevent terrorism and serious crimes. They emphasized that Pegasus is not sold to private users, but only to government agencies, and that they are ready to combat any gross abuse.

The Pegasus program became one of the most sensational information security topics in 2021. As it turned out, the program allowed full access to all data on the phone, including protected functions such as conversations, messages, camera, microphone and geolocation data.

It is worth recalling that in April 2024, the case related to Pegasus in Spain was reopened, and investigators are investigating the use of the Israeli NSO Group program to monitor the phones of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and several high-ranking officials.

The incident has intensified international criticism of NSO Group, raising serious concerns about the unrestricted use of spying technologies. At the same time, the issue of protecting personal data and fighting for digital rights appears to be increasingly important on the international agenda.

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