Apple files lawsuit against NSO Group, saying US citizens were targets
Apple Inc
said on Tuesday it has filed a lawsuit against Israeli cyber firm NSO Group and
its parent company OSY Technologies for alleged surveillance and
targeting of U.S. Apple users
with its Pegasus spyware.
The iPhone maker said it is also seeking to ban NSO Group from
using any Apple software,
services or devices to prevent further abuse.
Apple is the latest in a string of companies and
governments to come after NSO, the maker of the Pegasus hacking tool that
watchdog groups say targeted human rights workers and journalists. Earlier this
month, U.S. officials placed the company on a trade blacklist. NSO has also
faced either legal action or criticism from Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc,
Alphabet Inc and Cisco Systems Inc.
NSO is allegedly involved in circumventing security for products
made by these companies and
selling that circumvention in the form of hacking tools to foreign governments.
In a statement, NSO, which says it sells its tools only to
governments and law enforcement agencies and has safeguards in place to prevent
misuse, said that "thousands of lives" have been saved through the
use of its tools.
"Pedophiles and terrorists can freely operate in
technological safe-havens, and we provide governments the lawful tools to fight
it. NSO Group will continue to advocate for the truth," a spokesperson
said in a statement.
In its complaint filed in U.S. 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 "U.S.
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. Apple said that its servers were not
hacked, but that NSO misused and manipulated the servers to deliver the attacks
on Apple users.
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