Apple has filed a lawsuit against the maker of Pegasus spyware, the Israeli-based technology firm NSO Group. The company announced the news of the lawsuit on Tuesday, responding to alleged surveillance abuses carried out against Apple users by NSO Group.
According to Apple’s complaint, NSO Group has “sophisticated, state-sponsored surveillance technology that allows its highly targeted spyware to surveil its victims.”
NSO Group’s Pegasus can be downloaded on most phones running iOS and Android and allows for various forms of exploitation and surveillance, including reading text messages, tracking calls, collecting passwords and location tracking.
Apple describes attacks in which NSO Group or its clients had created Apple IDs to send malicious data to devices, which then enabled hackers to install Pegasus without users’ knowledge. With the lawsuit, Apple is seeking to ban NSO Group from using any Apple software, services or devices.
“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,” he continued.
The company noted that its newest operating system, iOS 15, includes a number of new security protections and encouraged all Apple users to update their iPhones with the latest software.
In other tech news, TikTok’s TV app has launched in North America.
