One of the most feared lawyers in the world, Donald Trump’s attorney John Scotus, has taken a very big step in his legal career by filing a lawsuit against a group of men who have accused of snooping on people’s WhatsApp messages. The group, called NSO, found to have been spying on a Canadian activist and several other people, including some with very high-profile careers, such as Michael Jackson.
Microsoft is supporting Facebook in Scotus OKS WhatsApp Suit
If you’ve been following the news, you may have noticed that Microsoft is supporting Facebook in its lawsuit against the private offensive spyware company, NSO Group. This is a major development in the ongoing debate over the privacy and ethics of the world’s largest social networking site.
The lawsuit is based on the revelation that NSO Group installed malicious software on phones belonging to hundreds of people. It targeted human rights activists and journalists, as well as senior government officials.
The technology supposedly used to fight terrorism. However, a recent investigation found that the technology also used to hack into smartphones globally.
Microsoft and its subsidiaries have filed an amicus brief in support of Facebook’s lawsuit. Other tech companies have also joined the fray. Google, Cisco, and VMWare all signed on.
The court ruling not expected to finalized any time soon. Experts believe it could take years for the case to play out. One reason for this is that the government could argue over how much of the information disclosed prior to trial should release.
According to the lawsuit, NSO Group has acted on behalf of foreign governments. That’s not legal, as private companies like NSO are not eligible for immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
During its response to the lawsuit, NSO Group argued that its business dealings with foreign governments constituted immunity from the lawsuit. However, the government took a different approach.
It argued that the underlying legal issues covered by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which takes precedence over common law. In the end, the judge refused to dismiss the suit.
Pegasus helps law enforcement and intelligence agencies fight crime
NSO Group Technologies Limited was an Israeli tech company that developed and sold spyware to governments. The firm has been involved in numerous legal battles in recent months. Its latest lawsuit alleges that its software used to infiltrate more than one thousand users of the popular messaging app WhatsApp.
In addition to government officials, NSO has also targeted journalists and human rights activists. Last year, a global media consortium published a damning report on the company’s operations.
The company’s spyware designed to steal information from mobile devices, including messages, photos, videos, and location data. This allows governments to conduct near-complete surveillance of their targets. Pegasus’ customers include intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, and military organizations.
According to the lawsuit, NSO installed spyware on the phones of dozens of journalists, human rights activists, and dissidents. Moreover, NSO allegedly used its product to infiltrate the inner circle of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
NSO has denied committing any crimes and says it only sells its products to law enforcement. However, critics say it is a front for foreign governments to spy on Americans.
The case is moving forward in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
NSO’s lawyers have declined to comment. The lawsuit filed in November 2018 by a news outlet in El Salvador. An investigation found that more than one thousand people in ten nations affected. Approximately 100 of them were journalists.
The suit was based on a Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claim. While a lower ruling on immunity will remain in place, the case will move to a different court.
Spying on WhatsApp users is not a criminal act
If you have used WhatsApp for years, you have probably heard of the company’s end-to-end encryption. That’s the security measure that allows users to send and receive messages without having their content read by other users. However, you have probably not been aware of a bug in the software that allowed hackers to secretly hijack the phones of several people in India and Mexico.
This bug exploited by a sophisticated hacker for hire who managed to hijack dozens of smartphones, even when the owners didn’t realize it. Moreover, the bug triggered a software feature that allowed the hackers to track and spy on users.
In the end, the whistleblower’s apprehension was enough to spark a long-overdue investigation. Eventually, 17 media organizations led by a non-profit journalism group called Forbidden Stories published an investigation into the bug.
The investigation found that spyware used to hack a range of mobile devices on a global scale. It also revealed that the bug could accessed remotely, enabling spies to take control of a phone.
Several law enforcement agencies have been using the company’s software to spy on their suspects. For example, the Drug Enforcement Administration wanted to conduct surveillance on seven WhatsApp users in Ohio. They not told the names of the suspects, but the agency requested back-ups of their phones.
A whistleblower complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year. The complaint details how outside contractors used by the company to monitor accounts.
While the whistleblower’s complaint was not specific to any company, it does mention the use of artificial intelligence systems to detect suspicious activity and a pen register. The pen register is a type of device that would allow law enforcement to gather information on a particular user, such as where they are, which contacts they have on their account, and so on.
NSO has safeguards in place to prevent abuses
NSO is an Israeli company that makes spyware tools for law enforcement agencies. These spying tools have used to monitor journalists and political dissidents, as well as criminals and terrorists.
Some critics have questioned Israel’s lax oversight of the digital surveillance industry. The country’s government has accused of corruption and human rights abuses.
Some have suggested that the company is not immune from legal action, because it acts as an agent of foreign governments. But the US government may be concerned about denying NSO immunity, because it would violate international law.
Several human rights groups have criticized the company, saying customers have abused its spying products. While NSO has safeguards in place, they are not enough to protect the privacy of the people who use its products.
NSO has also been involved in scandals in the U.S. and other countries. Last year, it blacklisted by the US Commerce Department, because it had found to have engaged in a series of violations of federal law.
In response, NSO filed a petition with the Solicitor General of the United States, which asked for the views of the Solicitor General on the validity of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Two federal courts rejected NSO’s claim of immunity, and a third court ruled against it.
Recently, NSO’s CEO, Niv Karmi, resigned. His departure is part of a reorganization plan that will see Yaron Shohat take over as interim manager.
In a statement, the company said it “believes the suit is a serious matter,” and that “it will not stop until it is resolved.” They are trying to reverse the blacklisting.
The activist’s phone hacked via the iMessage app before it hacked with the Pegasus spyware
The Pegasus Project is an investigative journalism collaboration involving 17 global media outlets and the Amnesty International Security Lab. It has found that Pegasus spyware used by governments to target journalists and opposition politicians.
Pegasus is a remote listening program that can infect any mobile device. It can intercept messages and phone calls and spy on a user’s photos. The program uses zero-day exploits to kick into action without the target.
Pegasus can download to a targeted phone without the user knowing it. It works by sending instructions to a C&C server that attached to the phone. This enables the program to access granular location data, photos, emails, and more.
According to the Pegasus Project, there have been more than 1,400 cases of this infection worldwide. Several countries have found to be using the program, including Saudi Arabia, El Salvador, Morocco, and the UAE.
Pegasus is also use by criminal gangs to spy on activists and journalists. In 2016, reports from the New York Times revealed that Mexican activists hacked. One activist reportedly targeted by the UAE after he revealed his infection with Pegasus.
A new report from Citizen Lab, a digital rights group, says that the Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group has been involved in Pegasus’s activities. The organization discovered that NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware used on more than one hundred journalists and political activists around the world.
Researchers with the Pegasus Project analyzed 67 phones and found that Pegasus spyware installed on almost one-third of the devices they examined. They were also able to find evidence of attempted penetration on 14 of the 67 devices.
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