Apple sues Israel’s NSO Group for targeting iPhones with Pegasus spyware
- The Silicon Valley giant is seeking a permanent injunction to ban NSO Group from using any Apple software, services, or devices
- Smartphones infected with Pegasus are essentially turned into pocket spying devices, allowing the user to read the target’s messages
The suit from the Silicon Valley giant adds to the trouble facing embattled NSO, which was engulfed in controversy over reports that tens of thousands of activists, journalists and politicians were listed as potential targets of its Pegasus spyware.
US authorities just weeks ago blacklisted NSO to restrict exports from American groups over allegations the Israel firm “enabled foreign governments to conduct transnational repression.”
“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,” Apple said in a statement announcing the lawsuit filed in US federal court in California.
“Defendants are notorious hackers – amoral 21st century mercenaries who have created highly sophisticated cyber-surveillance machinery that invites routine and flagrant abuse,” the iPhone maker wrote in its case.