In a 2019 cyberattack operation, NSO Group's infamous surveillance software, Pegasus, was employed to hack into the accounts of 1,223 WhatsApp users across 51 distinct nations, as reported. a new court document .
The document was released on Friday as part of the litigation involving Meta-owned company. WhatsApp has taken legal action against the NSO Group. In 2019, they accused the company behind the surveillance technology of taking advantage of a flaw in the messaging application to single out hundreds of individuals, among whom were over 100 human rights advocates, reporters, and "other participants in civil society."
Initially, WhatsApp stated that approximately 1,400 users were affected. However, evidence presented in a court filing now reveals the precise locations of 1,223 individual targets at the moment they were subjected to surveillance using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.
The country-by-country analysis offers a unique glimpse into which clients of the NSO Group might be particularly active, as well as the locations of their potential targets and victims.
According to a chart labeled "Victim Country Count," which was presented as evidence in the case, the nations most affected by this campaign include: Mexico with 456 people impacted; India with 100; Bahrain with 82; Morocco with 69; Pakistan with 58; Indonesia with 54; and Israel with 51.
The casualties include individuals from Western nations such as Spain (with 12 victims), the Netherlands (11 cases), Hungary (8 instances), France (7 people), and the United Kingdom (2 persons). Additionally, there was one victim recorded in the United States.
The court filing containing the list of victims organized by nationality was initially uncovered by Israeli news site CTech .
"Over the years, numerous news articles have highlighted the use of Pegasus to target individuals globally," he stated. Runa Sandvik , a cyber security specialist who has been monitoring targets of governmental surveillance software for years.
"What frequently gets overlooked in such articles is the actual magnitude of the targeting—the countless individuals who weren’t informed, didn’t have their devices examined, or chose not to disclose their experiences openly. The figures presented—showing 456 instances just within Mexico, a nation where numerous known victims from civil society circles have been recorded—reveal much about the extensive reach of this spyware issue," stated Sandvik to Massima.
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Would you like additional details about NSO Group or other surveillance software firms? You may reach out to Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai for insights from a personal device and an external network using Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or connect with him through Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb. email . You can also reach out to Massimo via SecureDrop .An additional piece of information demonstrating the magnitude of this issue government spyware The issue is that the hacking campaign aimed at WhatsApp users took place over just two months, specifically "from approximately April 2019 through May 2019," according to what WhatsApp stated. original complaint .
To put it differently, within only two months, NSO Group’s governmental clients aimed at over a thousand WhatsApp users.
It should be emphasized that the presence of a victim within a particular nation does not necessarily imply that said nation's administration utilized NSO Group’s surveillance software against these individuals. A governmental client might employ Pegasus to monitor targets residing beyond their own borders.
As CTech pointed out, Syria is listed as one of the victims; however, the NSO Group is prohibited from exporting its technology to Syria, a nation under these restrictions. approved by nations across the globe .
The total number of victims provides clues about which entities might be among NSO Group’s most lucrative clients. Similar to companies such as NSO Group—and former players like Hacking Team and FinFisher—the pricing for these surveillance tools depends partly on how many individuals can simultaneously have their devices compromised with the malware.
For instance, Mexico reportedly expended over $60 million on the spyware developed by NSO Group. based on a 2023 piece from The New York Times That referenced Mexican officials, which might account for the high number of Mexicans on this list.
Last year, WhatsApp achieved a significant milestone. When the judge overseeing the legal case determined that NSO Group violated U.S. hacking regulations by attacking WhatsApp users, the subsequent phase of the litigation involves an impending court session aimed at establishing the compensation that the company behind the surveillance software must provide to WhatsApp.
In addition to this roster of victims, the lawsuit filed by WhatsApp proceeded with the legal proceedings. has resulted in additional disclosures including the information that NSO Group severed ties with 10 governmental clients following allegations of misuse of the spyware, and that the price tag for a year’s license of the WhatsApp hacking tool developed by NSO Group was as high as $6.8 million, generating at minimum "$31 million in revenue" for the firm in 2019.
A WhatsApp representative named Zade Alsawah chose not to comment. The NSO Group failed to reply when asked for their input.