Apple has just filed a lawsuit against the NSO Group. The Cupertino-based tech giant accused the Israeli company of using the Pegasus spyware to break into iPhones.
Apple said the NSO Group created state-sponsored state-of-the-art surveillance technology that allows highly targeted spyware to keep an eye on its victims. This attack only targeted a small number of users, but it impacted people across multiple platforms, including iOS and Android.
“The NSO Group is like a state sponsored actor, spending millions of dollars on advanced surveillance technology without effective accountability. That needs to change,” Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering.
"While this cybersecurity threat only affects a small number of customers, we take any attack against users very seriously, and we are continuously working to strengthen security and privacy protections on iOS to keep all of our users safe."
The Pegasus spyware was designed to allow governments to remotely access phone microphones, cameras, and other data on iPhones and Androids, according to an Apple press release. It is also designed to be able to infect phones without requiring any action from the user and leaving no trace.
Apple also cites reports that spyware has been used against journalists, activists, and politicians, although NSO claims that government clients are prohibited from using spyware against such targets. And it's understandable why Apple, the company that always boasts "what happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone", is so angry. Even the company, which is commanded by Tim Cook, considers NSO's practices a violation of human rights.
Apple's lawsuit comes weeks after a US appeals court ruled that WhatsApp could proceed with its lawsuit against NSO, which claims it has sovereign immunity because its client is a government agency.
In early November, the Biden administration also sanctioned the NSO Group for what it called enabling "transnational repression".
The NSO Group insists that its products are designed to track criminals and "terrorists", and the government accused of using the company's spyware against human rights defenders has also denied any wrongdoing.