Facebook sues Israel's NSO Group over alleged WhatsApp hack
The hacking spree targeted journalists, diplomats, human rights activists, political dissidents, senior government officials and others, Facebook said in its lawsuit, filed in U.S.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp, which is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement that it believed the attack targeted at least 100 members of civil society, which is an unmistakable pattern of abuse.
Facebook is seeking to have NSO barred from accessing or attempting to access WhatsApp and Facebooks services and is seeking unspecified damages.
WhatsApp said the attack exploited its video calling system in order to send malware to the mobile devices of a number of users.
The malware would then allow NSOs clients - said to be governments and intelligence organizations - to secretly spy on a phones owner, opening their digital lives up to official scrutiny.
This is the first time that an encrypted messaging provider is taking legal action against a private entity that has carried out this type of attack against its users, WhatsApp said in its statement.
Khashoggis friend Omar Abdulaziz is one of seven activists and journalists who have taken the spyware firm to court in Israel and Cyprus over allegations that their phones were compromised using NSO technology.
In August, NSO co-founder Shalev Hulio appeared on 60 Minutes and boasted his spyware had saved tens of thousands of people.
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