TEL AVIV: Apple sues Israeli spyware firm NSO Group

TEL
AVIV: Apple is suing Israeli spyware
firm NSO Group and its parent company for allegedly targeting iPhone users with
a hacking tool.

NSO’s
Pegasus software can infect both iPhones and Android devices, allowing
operators to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls and secretly
activate microphones and cameras.

NSO Group
said its tools were made to target terrorists and criminals.

But it
has allegedly also been used on activists, politicians and journalists.

NSO Group
says it only supplies Pegasus to military, law enforcement and intelligence
agencies from countries with good human-rights records.

However
earlier this month, US officials placed the company on a trade blacklist,
saying the software had “enabled foreign governments to conduct
transnational repression, which is the practice of authoritarian governments
targeting dissidents, journalists and activists”.

Apple’s
move follows a lawsuit launched in 2019 by WhatsApp which is still working its
way through the US court system.

In its
initial court filing, WhatsApp said NSO Group “developed their malware in
order to access messages and other communications after they were decrypted on
target devices”.

Other
tech firms, including Microsoft, Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook),
Google-owner Alphabet and Cisco Systems have all previously criticised NSO.

In a blog post announcing the California
lawsuit, Apple said it wanted to hold NSO Group and its parent company OSY
Technologies “accountable for the surveillance and targeting of Apple
users”.

“To
prevent further abuse and harm to its users, Apple is also seeking a permanent
injunction to ban NSO Group from using any Apple software, services, or
devices,” it said.

Apple
prides itself on its privacy. It’s a major selling point for its devices.

So it’s
not totally surprising that a company that has allegedly sought to bypass Apple
security features might antagonise the giant.

That’s
not the only reason Apple is making a stand though.

Not all
hackers are considered equals. NSO Group has government clients, or as Apple
puts it, is “state-sponsored”.

NSO
claims it only works with agencies with good human rights records.

In that
way the company has tried to distinguish itself from underground hackers doing
nefarious activities.

By suing
NSO Group Apple is rejecting that distinction.

Apple is
making the point that it doesn’t matter who you are, if you’re a group trying
to hack into an Apple product they’ll take action – whatever the motives.

But
there’s a bit more depth to it than that.

Apple
will feel it’s easier, and more politically palatable, to sue a private
company, rather than the governments who are allegedly using the tech.

In its
complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of
California, Apple said NSO’s tools were used in “concerted efforts in 2021
to target and attack Apple customers” and that “US citizens have been
surveilled by NSO’s spyware on mobile devices that can and do cross
international borders.”

Apple
alleged that NSO group created more than 100 fake Apple ID user credentials to
carry out its attacks.

The tech
giant said that its servers were not hacked, but that NSO misused and
manipulated the servers to deliver the attacks on Apple users.

Apple
also alleged that NSO Group was directly involved in providing consulting
services for the spyware, but NSO maintains that it only sells its tools to
clients.

Apple
said it was forced to engage in a continual arms race with NSO, saying the
Israeli firm was “constantly updating their malware and exploits to
overcome Apple’s own security upgrades”.

The
iPhone maker said that it will donate $10m, as well as any damages recovered in
the lawsuit, to cybersurveillance research groups including Citizen Lab, the
University of Toronto group that first discovered NSO’s attacks.

NSO Group
said in response: “Thousands of lives were saved around the world thanks
to NSO Group’s technologies used by its customers”.

“Paedophiles
and terrorists can freely operate in technological safe-havens, and we provide
governments with the lawful tools to fight [them].

“NSO
group will continue to advocate for the truth.”