NSO Group has filed an appeal to reject last month's jury ruling that ordered a $167 million payment to WhatsApp after infecting over 1,400 users of the messaging app with spyware as part of an attack campaign six years ago, TechCrunch reports.
Such a ruling "exceeds the maximum lawful punitive damages award in this case by many orders of magnitude," said NSO Group, which noted that damages awarded by the jury should not be four times more than $444,719 in compensatory damages. Meanwhile, WhatsApp emphasized that it will continue combating NSO Group's repeated attempts to avoid accountability in the spyware hacking campaign. "This is another expected attempt to claim impunity, in response to a strong message from the jury of U.S. citizens deciding to punish NSO for its 2019 illegal attack against an American company and its users. We'll respond to the court as we continue to pursue a permanent injunction against NSO to prevent this spyware firm from targeting WhatsApp and our users ever again," said WhatsApp spokesperson Margarita Franklin.
Such a ruling "exceeds the maximum lawful punitive damages award in this case by many orders of magnitude," said NSO Group, which noted that damages awarded by the jury should not be four times more than $444,719 in compensatory damages. Meanwhile, WhatsApp emphasized that it will continue combating NSO Group's repeated attempts to avoid accountability in the spyware hacking campaign. "This is another expected attempt to claim impunity, in response to a strong message from the jury of U.S. citizens deciding to punish NSO for its 2019 illegal attack against an American company and its users. We'll respond to the court as we continue to pursue a permanent injunction against NSO to prevent this spyware firm from targeting WhatsApp and our users ever again," said WhatsApp spokesperson Margarita Franklin.
