By US Judge Rules in Favor of Meta, Orders NSO Group to Share Pegasus Source Code Amid Ongoing Lawsuit
In a significant legal win for Meta, a US judge has directed NSO Group to provide its source code for Pegasus and other products as part of the ongoing litigation initiated by the social media giant. The lawsuit, filed in October 2019, accuses the Israeli spyware vendor of using Meta’s infrastructure to distribute spyware to around 1,400 mobile devices, including those of two dozen Indian activists and journalists. The attacks exploited a then zero-day flaw in the instant messaging app, allowing Pegasus delivery through unanswered voice calls. While the court order compels NSO Group to disclose information about the spyware’s functionality, it spares the revelation of client identities, drawing criticism from privacy advocates. The Israeli firm faced US sanctions in 2021 for supplying cyber weapons to foreign governments that used them for malicious targeting. Meanwhile, Meta is under scrutiny in the EU for its “pay or okay” subscription model, perceived as a choice between paying a privacy fee and consenting to tracking. As the legal battle unfolds, Recorded Future reveals a new infrastructure associated with Predator, a mobile spyware managed by the Intellexa Alliance, with identified customers in various countries, highlighting persistent challenges in combating cyber threats.
