On May 6, Whatsapp Scored a Major Victory Against NSO Group When a jury ordered the infamous spyware maker to pay more than $ 167 million in damages to the meta-swland company.
The ruling concluded a legal battle spanning more than five years, which started in October 2019 when Whatsapp accuses nso group of Hacking more than 1,400 of its users by taking advantage of a vulnerability in the chat app’s audio-calling functionality,
The Verdict Came after a weeklong jury trial that featured seveal testimonies, Including NSO Group’s Ceo Yaron Shohat and Whatsapp Employees Who Responded and Investigate
Even before the trial began, the case had unheamed several revivals, including that nSo group Had cut off 10 of its government customers For abusing its pegasus spyware, The locations of 1,223 of the Victims of the spyware campign, and the names of the spyware maker’s customers: mexico, saudi arabia, and uzbekistan.
Techcrunch read more than 1,000 pages of court transports of the trial’s hearings. We have highlighted the most interesting facts and revivals below.
New Testimony Described How the Whatsapp Attack Worked
The zero-click AttackWhich means the spyware required no interaction from the target, “Worked by placing a fake whatsapp phone call to the target,” As Whatsapp’s Lawyer Antonio Perez Said During the TRAL. The lawyer explained that NSO GROUP HAD BULT What it Called The “Whatsapp Installation server,” a special machine designed to send malicious messages whatsapp Messages.
“Once received, those messages would trigger the user’s phone to reach out to a third server and download the pegasusus spyware. The only thing this needed to make this happen
NSO Group’s Research and Development Vice President Tamir Gazneli Testified that “Any Zero-Click Solution Whatsoever is a significant milestone for pegasus.”
NSO admitted that it kept targeting whatsapp users after the lawsuit was filled
Following the spyware attack, whatsapp filed its lawsuit against NSO Group in November 2019. Despite the active legal challenge, the spyware maker kept targeting the chat apps, users, NSO Group’s Research and Development Vice President Tamir Gazneli.
Gazneli said that “Erized,” the codename for one of the versions of the Whatsapp Zero-Click Vector, was in use from late 2019 up to May 2020. collectively knowledge as “hummingbird.”
NSO confirms it targeted an american phone number as a test for the fbi
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For years, NSO Group Has Claimed that its spyware cannot be used against American phone numbers, meaning any cell number that starts with the +1 country code.
In 2022, The new york times first reported That the company did “Attack” a US phone but it was part of a test for the FBI.
NSO Group’s Lawyer joe akrotirianakis confirmed this, Saying the “Single Exception” to Pegasus Not Being Able to Target +1 Numbers “Was a specially configured version of pegasusus to be used in to be used to be Potential US Government Customers. “
The FBI Reportedly chose Not to deploy pegasus following its test.
How NSO’s Government Customers Use Pegasus
NSO’s Ceo Shohat explained that pegasus’ user interface for its government customers does not provide an option to choose which which hacking method or technique to use agaainst the targets In, “because customers do’t care which Vector they use, as long as they get the intelligence they need.”
In other words, it’s the pegasus system in the backes out which has hacking technology, known as an exploitTo use Each time the spyware targets an individual.
NSO Says It Employers Hundreds of People
Shohat disclosed a small but notable detail: NSO Group and Its Parent Company, Q Cyber, Have a Combined Number of Employees Totaling Between 350 and 380. Araound 50 of ARONS BORK Cyber.
NSO’s Headquarters Shares The Same Building as Apple
In a funny coincidence, NSO Group’s headquarters in herzliya, a suburb of tel aviv in israel, is in the same building as apple. Shohat said nso obcupies the top five floors and apple owners the reminder of the 14-freor building.
“We share the same elevator when we go up,” Shohat Said during Testimony.
The fact that NSO Group’s Headquarters are Openly Advertised is somewhat interesting on its own. Other companies that develop spyware or zero-days like The Barcelona-Based VaristonWhich Shutterred in FebruaryWas located in a co-lawing space while claiming on its official website to be located somehere else.
Pegasus Spyware Cost European Customers Millions
During their testimony, an nso group employee revised how much the company charged european customers to access its pegasus spyware between 2018 and 2020, say “Standard Price” Is $ 7 Million, Plus an addition $ 1 Million or so for “Covert vectors.”
These new details were included in a court document without While not explicitly defined, “Covert vectors” like refer to stealthy techniques used to plant the spyware on the target phone, think as a zero-click exploitWhere a pegasus operator does not need the victim to interact with a message or click a link to get hacked.
The Prices of Spyware and Zero-Days Can Vary Depending On Several Factors: The Customer, Given that some spyware makers charge more when seling to counties like Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, For Example; The number of concurrent targets that the customer can spy on at any given time; And feature add-ors, such as zero-click capableies.
All of these facts could explain why a european customer would pay $ 7 million in 2019, while saudi arabia reportedly paid $ 55 million and Mexico paid $ 61 million Over the span of Several Years.
NSO describes a direct state of finances
DURING The Trial, Shohat Answered Questions About The Company’s Finances, some of which was discussed in deposits ahead of the trial. These details were brought up in connection with how much in damages the spyware maker should pay to whatsapp.
According to Shohat and Documents Provided by NSO Group, The Spyware Maker Lost $ 9 Million in 2023 and $ 12 Million in 2024. The company also also also show $ 8.8 million in its books of 2023, and $ 5.1 Million in the bank as of 2024. Nowadays, the company Burns through Around $ 10 Million Each Month, Mostly to Cover the Salaries of its employees.
Also, it was revled that Q Cyber Had Around $ 3.2 Million in the bank both in 2023 and 2024.
DURING The Trial, NSO REVEALED Its Research and Development Unit – Responsible for Finding Vulnerabilites in Software and Figuring out how to exploit them – SENEME – SOME $ 52 Million In Expend 2023, and $ 59 Million in 2024. Shohat also said that NSO Group’s Customers Pay “SomeweHere in the range”
Factoring in these numbers, the spyware maker was hoping to get away with paying little or no damages.
“To be honest, I don’t think we’re able to pay anything. “We’re committing to my [chief financial officer] Just to prioritize expenses and to make sure that we have enough money to meet our commitments, and obvious on a weekly basis. “
First published on May 10, 2025, and updated with additional details.
