Cybersecurity
WhatsApp Hack Aided by Spyware Linked to Human Rights Abuses
- NSO Group linked to attacks of rights activists, journalists
- Company was linked to the death of Saudi critic Khashoggi
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Israeli spyware maker NSO Group Ltd. was in the limelight Tuesday after its software was suspected of being used in hacking the phones of human rights activists through WhatsApp. It’s not the company’s first brush with controversy.
Human rights groups and researchers have raised alarms for years about NSO Group, which makes mobile device surveillance software that ostensibly helps governments combat “terror and crime.” Activists, however, say governments misuse NSO’s products to target human rights defenders, journalists and critics.