Credit: Ravi Sharma / Unsplash
A federal judge in California recently rejected a request from NSO Group to halt an order that prohibits the company from utilizing WhatsApp’s infrastructure for spyware deployment.
NSO Group had requested a stay on this order while awaiting a decision on its appeal. The underlying case involves accusations that NSO Group used its potent zero-click Pegasus spyware to target approximately 1,400 WhatsApp users in 2019.
The spyware developer claimed that the permanent injunction would inflict “catastrophic” harm on its operations, leading to “irreparable, potentially existential injuries.”
The court’s opinion stated, “The court does not find that defendants have made a strong showing of likelihood of success on the merits of their arguments regarding liability.”
It further noted that “Even based only on the limited discovery provided by defendants, the undisputed evidence showed that NSO went far beyond their authorized use of Whatsapp by reverse-engineering the application to design a spyware vector which allowed NSO’s clients to surveil Whatsapp’s users and obtain data from its servers.”
A limited administrative stay of up to 45 days was granted by the judge, providing NSO Group an opportunity to seek intervention from an appeals court.
