Apple Inc has filed a legal suit against NSO Group for developing Pegasus malware that is being illegally used by companies/governments and individuals for conducting cyber surveillance.
The complaint that was filed in California court yesterday not only seeks permission to block the spying software from infiltrating into products such as iPhones, but also seeks some compensation for the damage that took place so far.
Craig Federighi, the Senior VP of Software division of Apple Inc said that NSO Group spent millions in R&D of the spying software technologies without keeping an accountability on what it was indulging in.
NSO that was recently blacklisted by the Biden administration for conducting trade in America seems to have switched to a denial mode. As it has been constantly screeching for any wrongdoing and said that its products were being made to counter terrorism and crime.
However, there is a high probability that the espionage related software could have fallen into the hands of some state funded hackers who were seen using it to collect classical data from individuals, journalists, politicians and business persons based in UK, India and US.
Note- Israel-based firm NSO Group developed Pegasus for conducting surveillance on mobile phones operating on Android and iOS. However, in the year 2016, the software was seen harvesting data on remote servers from infected phones and the information includes text messages, call data, contacts, videos, photos, location details, password gathering and videos captured from cameras operating on the smart phone, without the knowledge of users. This malicious software got the name Pegasus based on the Greek Mythology that means “Flying through air”.
