Espionage and going behind enemy lines without having to be physically present, is one of the gifts (or curses) the internet has given humanity.
NSO Group is an Israeli-based intelligence company that sells products to governments.
And here, Facebook-owned WhatsApp has sued the spyware vendor, alleging that its software was used to hack more than a thousand devices by exploiting a vulnerability on the messaging service.
NSO Group denied any responsibility for the alleged targeting, and has said its government clients control how its software is used.
In response to the 2019 lawsuit, the NSO Group has argued that it should benefit from “sovereign immunity” because it sells tools to foreign governments. However, a judge denied the company's request to dismiss the lawsuit.
With the NSO Group appealing to overturn the ruling. Facebook is gaining some powerful supporters.
From Google, Microsoft, Cisco and VMWare, they have all filed an amicus brief in support of Facebook’s legal action against NSO Group. Other companies listed on the filing include the Internet Association, and Microsoft subsidiaries GitHub and LinkedIn.
In a blog post titled “Cyber Mercenaries Don’t Deserve Immunity”, Microsoft highlighted three reasons why it believes NSO Group’s presence is concerning, and why it doesn’t deserve the immunity it’s seeking.
“We believe the NSO Group’s business model is dangerous and that such immunity would enable it and other PSOAs [private-sector offensive actors] to continue their dangerous business without legal rules, responsibilities or repercussions,” Microsoft’s post says.
First, Microsoft said that NSO Group’s “weapons” could be incredibly dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands.
Second, it said that the tools are not subject to the same constraints when they’re made by private companies rather than government security agencies. Governments should worry about their diplomatic relationships and keeping their own citizens safe, whereas private companies do not.
And third, Microsoft argued that the tools are a threat to human rights, following reports that they have been used on journalists and human rights defenders.
“Private companies should remain subject to liability when they use their cyber-surveillance tools to break the law, or knowingly permit their use for such purposes, regardless of who their customers are or what they’re trying to achieve,” Microsoft’s post concludes, “We hope that standing together with our competitors today through this amicus brief will help protect our collective customers and global digital ecosystem.”
Read: Employees Of Qatari State-Owned News Channel Targeted By An Israeli Spyware
The amicus brief filed by the companies in support of Facebook and WhatsApp, sent a strong signal that the world’s biggest technology companies are rallying against the proliferation of hacking tools made by private companies.
They said that the consequences of an “immunised and expanded” spyware industry would mean that more foreign governments would have access to “powerful and dangerous” cybersurveillance tools and may use them "in problematic ways”.
While NSO Group has said that its products are meant to be used to track terrorists and criminals, Google and the other technology companies claimed that there are “substantial reasons to doubt” NSO Group’s attempts to “characterise its customers’ intended uses as appropriate”.
“Widespread creation and deployment of these tools by private companies acting for profit dramatically increases the risk that these vulnerabilities will be obtained and exploited by malicious actors other than the initial customer to cripple infrastructure, commit large-scale financial crime, or cause other catastrophic damage,” the companies said.
NSO Group Technologies was founded in 2010 by Niv Carmi, Omri Lavie, and Shalev Hulio.
Its best known product is the Pegasus, which is a spyware classified as a weapon by Israel and any export of the technology must be approved by the government.
