Eight things we learned from WhatsApp vs. NSO Group spyware lawsuit

On Might 6, WhatsApp scored a major victory against NSO Group when a jury ordered the notorious adware maker to pay greater than $167 million in damages to the Meta-owned firm.

The ruling concluded a authorized battle spanning greater than 5 years, which began in October 2019 when WhatsApp accused NSO Group of hacking greater than 1,400 of its customers by profiting from a vulnerability within the chat app’s audio-calling functionality.

The decision got here after a weeklong jury trial that featured a number of testimonies, together with NSO Group’s CEO Yaron Shohat and WhatsApp workers who responded and investigated the incident. 

Even earlier than the trial started, the case had unearthed a number of revelations, together with that NSO Group had cut off 10 of its government customers for abusing its Pegasus adware, the locations of 1,223 of the victims of the adware marketing campaign, and the names of three of the adware maker’s prospects: Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan.

TechCrunch learn greater than 1,000 pages of court docket transcripts of the trial’s hearings. We have now highlighted essentially the most fascinating information and revelations under.

New testimony described how the WhatsApp assault labored

The zero-click attack, which suggests the adware required no interplay from the goal, “labored by inserting a pretend WhatsApp telephone name to the goal,” as WhatsApp’s lawyer Antonio Perez stated throughout the trial. The lawyer defined that NSO Group had constructed what it known as the “WhatsApp Set up Server,” a particular machine designed to ship malicious messages throughout WhatsApp’s infrastructure mimicking actual messages. 

“As soon as obtained, these messages would set off the person’s telephone to achieve out to a 3rd server and obtain the Pegasus adware. The one factor they wanted to make this occur was the telephone quantity,” stated Perez. 

NSO Group’s analysis and improvement vice chairman Tamir Gazneli testified that “any zero-click resolution in any way is a big milestone for Pegasus.”

NSO admitted that it stored focusing on WhatsApp customers after the lawsuit was filed

Following the adware assault, WhatsApp filed its lawsuit towards NSO Group in November 2019. Regardless of the energetic authorized problem, the adware maker stored focusing on the chat app’s customers, in keeping with NSO Group’s analysis and improvement vice chairman Tamir Gazneli. 

Gazneli stated that “Erised,” the codename for one of many variations of the WhatsApp zero-click vector, was in use from late 2019 as much as Might 2020. The opposite variations have been known as “Eden” and “Heaven,” and the three have been collectively generally known as “Hummingbird.”

NSO confirms it focused an American telephone quantity as a take a look at for the FBI

For years, NSO Group has claimed that its adware can’t be used towards American telephone numbers, that means any cell quantity that begins with the +1 nation code.

In 2022, The New York Times first reported that the corporate did “assault” a U.S. telephone nevertheless it was a part of a take a look at for the FBI. 

NSO Group’s lawyer Joe Akrotirianakis confirmed this, saying the “single exception” to Pegasus not with the ability to goal +1 numbers “was a specifically configured model of Pegasus for use in demonstration to potential U.S. authorities prospects.”

The FBI reportedly chose to not deploy Pegasus following its take a look at.

How NSO’s authorities prospects use Pegasus

NSO’s CEO Shohat defined that Pegasus’ person interface for its authorities prospects doesn’t present an possibility to decide on which hacking methodology or method to make use of towards the targets they’re keen on, “as a result of prospects don’t care which vector they use, so long as they get the intelligence they want.” 

In different phrases, it’s the Pegasus system within the backend that picks out which hacking know-how, generally known as an exploit, to make use of every time the adware targets a person.

NSO says it employs tons of of individuals

Shohat disclosed a small however notable element: NSO Group and its mother or father firm, Q Cyber, have a mixed variety of workers totaling between 350 and 380. Round 50 of those workers work for Q Cyber. 

NSO’s headquarters shares the identical constructing as Apple

In a humorous coincidence, NSO Group’s headquarters in Herzliya, a suburb of Tel Aviv in Israel, is in the identical constructing as Apple, whose iPhone prospects are additionally incessantly focused by NSO’s Pegasus adware. Shohat stated NSO occupies the highest 5 flooring and Apple occupies the rest of the 14-floor constructing.

“We share the identical elevator once we go up,” Shohat stated throughout testimony.

The truth that NSO Group’s headquarters are brazenly marketed is considerably fascinating by itself. Different firms that develop adware or zero-days like the Barcelona-based Variston, which shuttered in February, was situated in a co-working house whereas claiming on its official web site to be situated some place else. 

Pegasus adware value European prospects tens of millions

Throughout their testimony, an NSO Group worker revealed how a lot the corporate charged European prospects to entry its Pegasus adware between 2018 and 2020, saying the “commonplace value” is $7 million, plus a further $1 million or so for “covert vectors.” 

These new particulars have been included in a court docket doc with out the complete context of the testimony, however provides an thought of how a lot superior adware like Pegasus can value paying governments. Whereas not explicitly outlined, “covert vectors” probably discuss with stealthy strategies used to plant the adware on the goal telephone, reminiscent of a zero-click exploit, the place a Pegasus operator doesn’t want the sufferer to work together with a message or click on a hyperlink to get hacked.

The prices of spyware and zero-days can vary depending on a number of elements: the client, on condition that some adware makers cost extra when promoting to nations like Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, for instance; the variety of concurrent targets that the client can spy on at any given time; and have add-ons, reminiscent of zero-click capabilities.

All of those elements might clarify why a European buyer would pay $7 million in 2019, while Saudi Arabia reportedly paid $55 million and Mexico paid $61 million over the span of a number of years. 

NSO describes a dire state of funds

In the course of the trial, Shohat answered questions concerning the firm’s funds, a few of which have been disclosed in depositions forward of the trial. These particulars have been introduced up in reference to how a lot in damages the adware maker ought to pay to WhatsApp. 

In keeping with Shohat and paperwork offered by NSO Group, the adware maker misplaced $9 million in 2023 and $12 million in 2024. The corporate additionally revealed it had $8.8 million in its checking account as of 2023, and $5.1 million within the financial institution as of 2024. These days, the corporate burns by way of round $10 million every month, largely to cowl the salaries of its workers.

Additionally, it was revealed that Q Cyber had round $3.2 million within the financial institution each in 2023 and 2024.

In the course of the trial, NSO revealed its analysis and improvement unit — liable for discovering vulnerabilities in software program and determining how one can exploit them — spent some $52 million in bills throughout 2023, and $59 million in 2024. Shohat additionally stated that NSO Group’s prospects pay “someplace within the vary” between $3 million and “ten occasions that” for entry to its Pegasus adware.

Factoring in these numbers, the adware maker hoped to get away with paying little or no damages. 

“To be trustworthy, I don’t assume we’re capable of pay something. We’re struggling to maintain our head above water,” Shohat stated throughout his testimony. “We’re committing to my [chief financial officer] simply to prioritize bills and to guarantee that we have the funds for to satisfy our commitments, and clearly on a weekly foundation.”

First revealed on Might 10, 2025, and up to date with extra particulars.