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NSO Group ’s ill-famed spyware Pegasus was used to target 1,223 WhatsApp users in 51 different countries during a 2019 hacking campaign , according toa Modern courtroom papers .
The document was published on Friday as part of the causa that Meta - ownedWhatsApp charge against NSO Groupin 2019 , accuse the surveillance technical school Jehovah of exploiting a vulnerability in the New World chat app to place hundreds of drug user , including more than 100 human rights activists , journalist , and “ other members of polite society . ”
At the time , WhatsApp tell around 1,400 users had been targeted . Now , an showing published in the court document point exactly in what res publica 1,223 specific victims were located when they were targeted with NSO Group ’s Pegasus spyware .
The land breakdown is a rare penetration into which NSO Group client may be more fighting , and where their victim and target are located .
The countries with the most victims of this political campaign are Mexico , with 456 individuals ; India , with 100 ; Bahrain with 82 ; Morocco , with 69 ; Pakistan , with 58 ; Indonesia , with 54 ; and Israel , with 51 , agree to a chart style “ Victim Country Count , ” that WhatsApp submitted as part of the case .
There are also victims in westerly area like Spain ( 21 victim ) , the Netherlands ( 11 ) , Hungary ( 8) , France ( 7 ) , United Kingdom ( 2 ) , and one dupe in the United States .
The court text file with the inclination of victim by country was first reported byIsraeli news situation CTech .
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“ Numerous newsworthiness article have been spell over the days document use of Pegasus to target victims around the world , ” saidRuna Sandvik , a cybersecurity expert who ’s beentracking victims of government spywarefor old age .
“ What ’s often missing from these articles is the true ordered series of the targeting — the number of victims who were not notified ; who did not get their devices checked ; who opted not to deal their story in public . The list we see here — with 456 case in Mexico alone , a commonwealth with document , well - known civil society victims — speak volumes about the true scale of the spyware problem , ” Sandvik say TechCrunch .
Another firearm of data that picture the plate of thegovernment spywareproblem is that the hacking cause target WhatsApp users occurred over a period of only two month , “ between in and around April 2019 and May 2019 , ” as WhatsApp write in itsoriginal charge .
In other actor’s line , in just two month , NSO Group ’s government customers targeted more than a thousand WhatsApp users .
It ’s important to take note that it is not clear if the fact that there is a victim located in a sealed state mean that specific rural area ’s government was the client using NSO Group ’s spyware against those victims . It ’s potential that a government client could be using Pegasus to target someone outside of the state .
As CTech noted , Syria appears on the dupe list , but NSO Group can not export its applied science to Syria , a land that’ssanctioned by area all over the existence .
The number of victims also gives an perceptiveness into who may be NSO Group ’s highest - paying customer . company like NSO Group , and other predecessors like Hacking Team and FinFisher , make up one’s mind what price to pop the question their surveillance products to their customers in part by the number of targets that can be concurrently infect with the spyware .
Mexico , for example , was reported to have spent more than $ 60 million on NSO Group ’s spyware , according to a 2023 New York Times articlethat cited Mexican official , which could explain why there are so many Mexican targets in this listing .
Last year , WhatsApp make an historical victorywhen the evaluator presiding over the lawsuit reign that NSO Group had breached U.S. hacking Torah by targeting WhatsApp users . The next dance step in the suit is an coming auditory modality that will determine the damages that the spyware maker will have to pay to WhatsApp .
aside from this lean of victim , the court case brought by WhatsApphas lead to other Revelation of Saint John the Divine , including the fact that NSO Group disconnected 10 government customer after theme that they abuse the spyware , and that the WhatsApp hacking tool develop by NSO Group be up to $ 6.8 million for a one - year license , which in amount netted the caller “ at least $ 31 million in revenue in 2019 . ”
WhatsApp representative Zade Alsawah wane to comment . NSO Group did not reply to a postulation for commentary .
