Espionage, Murder and Pegasus Spyware come to light in a special partnership between Exile Content Studios and the Committee to Protect Journalists. Hosts Rose Reid and Nando Vila examine the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and his inner circle that had the world's most sophisticated military-grade spyware confirmed on their phones. It's called Pegasus. How did this spyware come to be, how does it work, and how vulnerable are you? Every other week Shoot The Messenger investigates Pegasus, the Israeli technology company that makes it, the NSO Group, and the cyber war industry that is booming around it. You have heard the headlines — this is the deep dive.
5. WhatsApp and Facebook Take the NSO Group to Court
Shoot the Messenger: Espionage, Murder and Pegasus Spyware continues with its fifth episode. As WhatsApp and Facebook bring NSO to court in the federal court, the future of the NSO Group is in jeopardy and their tactics are further exposed.
After Pegasus breached WhatsApp - it started a chain reaction of negative events for the NSO Group, calling into question their valuation of $2B, making a public enemy of Silicon Valley, causing them to be blacklisted in the US, and initiating several major lawsuits leading all the way to the Supreme Court.
Five months after the Pegasus breach, WhatsApp and their parent company Facebook (now Meta) filed a lawsuit against NSO Group in California. Apple followed suit, setting up a showdown between Silicon Valley and the NSO Group. And that’s not all - groups such as Access Now, Amnesty International, and the Committee to Protect Journalists banded together to file an amicus brief in support of the WhatsApp lawsuit. The potential legal ramifications of these cases could affect everyone with a smartphone - even you.
Guests: Access Now's counsel Natalia Krapiva; Attorney Kyle McLorg
Shoot the Messenger is hosted by Rose Reid and Nando Vila and is a production of Exile Content Studio.