Apple Sues NSO Group Over Spyware

Apple filed a lawsuit against NSO Group, the developer of spyware, and sought to bar it from accessing its devices.

“State-sponsored entities, such as NSO Group, spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without reporting on their effectiveness. This must change,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering.

According to Apple, NSO Group sells the ForcedEntry software to law enforcement to break into iPhones and gain access to users’ messages.

Apple also accused the Israeli firm of creating Apple IDs to push malicious data and install spyware on devices without the owners’ knowledge.

The company said that a small number of users were affected by such attacks, and the issue has already been resolved.

“In a free society, the weaponization of powerful state-sponsored spyware against those who strive to make the world a better place is unacceptable,” said Ivan Krstic, Apple’s Head of Security Engineering.

In the press release, Apple also disclosed a $10 million contribution to support researchers and lawyers in the field of cyber espionage.

Earlier, Apple began testing a tool for locally scanning iPhone photos for child abuse. More than 90 rights groups worldwide condemned the initiative.

In July 2021, several media outlets, as part of a joint investigation reported that governments of 10 countries used NSO Group’s spyware to monitor journalists.

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