WhatsApp has filed a suit in federal court accusing Israeli mobile surveillance maker NSO Group of creating an exploit that was used hundreds of times to hack into target’s phone.
The lawsuit, filed in a California federal court, said the mobile surveillance outfit “developed their malware in order to access messages and other communications after they were decrypted” on target devices.
The attack worked by exploiting an audio-calling vulnerability in WhatsApp. Users may appear to get an ordinary call, but the malware would quietly infect the device with spyware, giving the attackers full access to the device.
