Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has filed a lawsuit against NSO Group and its parent company to hold it accountable for the surveillance and targeting of Apple users. The lawsuit provides information on how NSO Group infected victim’s devices with its Pegasus spyware. Apple seeks a permanent ban on NSO Group from utilizing any Apple software, services and devices. NSO Group creates state sponsored surveillance technology that allows for highly targeted spyware to surveil its victims. These are focused on small amounts of users as they impact across multiple platforms which include Android and iOS. Researchers and journalists have documented a history of this spyware targeting government officials, academic, dissidents, activists and journalists. “State-sponsored actors like the NSO Group spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without effective accountability. That needs to change,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Apple devices are the most secure consumer hardware on the market — but private companies developing state-sponsored spyware have become even more dangerous. While these cybersecurity threats only impact a very small number of our customers, we take any attack on our users very seriously, and we’re constantly working to strengthen the security and privacy protections in iOS to keep all our users safe.”
“At Apple, we are always working to defend our users against even the most complex cyberattacks. The steps we’re taking today will send a clear message: In a free society, it is unacceptable to weaponize powerful state-sponsored spyware against those who seek to make the world a better place,” said Ivan Krsti?, head of Apple Security Engineering and Architecture. “Our threat intelligence and engineering teams work around the clock to analyze new threats, rapidly patch vulnerabilities, and develop industry-leading new protections in our software and silicon. Apple runs one of the most sophisticated security engineering operations in the world, and we will continue to work tirelessly to protect our users from abusive state-sponsored actors like NSO Group.” “Mercenary spyware firms like NSO Group have facilitated some of the world’s worst human rights abuses and acts of transnational repression, while enriching themselves and their investors,” said Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. “I applaud Apple for holding them accountable for their abuses, and hope in doing so Apple will help to bring justice to all who have been victimized by NSO Group’s reckless behavior.”
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Apple Files Lawsuit against NSO Group for Abuse of State-Sponsored Spyware