Latest in lawful hacking
NSO Group filed a motion to dismiss WhatsApp’s lawsuit over the alleged hacking of 1,400 cellphones running the WhatsApp application. The motion to dismiss involved one curious claim: NSO claimed derivative sovereign immunity from suit.
WhatsApp has filed a suit against Isreali technology company NSO Group after NSO spyware targeted WhatsApp users. What are WhatsApp’s specific grievances and what does the suit reveal about tech companies’ new posture toward spyware makers?
What are the key takeaways from the emerging battle between Facebook and NSO group?
A recent lawsuit by WhatsApp against a spyware company may signal the beginning of the end for lawful hacking as a solution to the problem of law enforcement access to encrypted data.
It is with deliberate contempt that I describe vendors of “lawful” interception malcode such as Hacking Team, FinFisher, and NSO group as ascribing to the “Wehrner von Braun School of Rocketry”. They state that selling exclusively to governments frees them from responsibility as to how the tools are misused, on the assumption that all state use abides by the laws of the jurisdiction.
Recently I participated in a fascinating conference at Georgia Tech entitled “Surveillance, Privacy, and Data Across Borders: Trans-Atlantic Perspectives.” A range of experts grappled with the international aspects of an increasingly pressing question: how can we ensure that law enforcement is able to obtain enough information to do its job in the twenty-first century, while also ensuring that digital security and human rights are protected?