NSO Group CEO Claims Facebook Attempted To Purchase Apple Spying Tool

Notorious Israeli cyber arms dealer NSO Group recently claimed that in 2017 Facebook tried to purchase certain functions of Pegasus. In a court filing, the company reveals that a couple of Facebook representatives approached the firm to purchase the rights of the hacking tool. Pegasus is a tool that allows data collection and remote hacking on Apple devices.

It is worth noting that Facebook and the NSO Group is currently in a legal battle. The social networking giant is suing NSO Group, alleging that the spyware maker is exploiting a vulnerability on WhatsApp to assist the government in spying on users. The recent court filing coming from Shalev Hulio, the chief executive officer of the NSO Group, is just one facet of the continuing lawsuit.

In a report released by Vice's Motherboard, Hulio's court filing claims that during that time, the social networking giant was on its early phases of releasing a VPN product called Onavo Protect. Moreover, the court documents reveal that Facebook representatives were not really interested in purchasing certain parts of the Pegasus as a hacking tool. Instead, it is their tool to track smartphones of users who installed Onavo Protect effectively.

For the uninitiated, the Onavo Protect is a tool that analyzes users' web traffic to learn what other apps they are using. Additionally, Facebook proposed to pay the NSO Group a monthly fee for every Onavo Protect user. The court document reads, "The Facebook representatives stated that Facebook was concerned that its method for gathering user data through Onavo Protect was less effective on Apple devices than on Android devices," the court filing reads.

It adds that the Facebook representatives wanted to utilize the capabilities of Pegasus to track Apple users. Moreover, the court document claims that the social networking giant was willing to pay for the spying tool’s ability of Onavo Protect to track users. Interestingly, Facebook downplays the allegations of the NSO Group.

The social networking giant, in a recent statement, said that the NSO Group is trying to misinterpret the conversation between Facebook and NSO Group employees. It claims that NSO Group’s attempt to evade responsibility comes with inaccurate representations both on the spying tool and the discussion with Facebook representatives. The social networking giant says that in its lawsuit, it describes how the Israeli company attacked more than 100 human rights activists and journalists worldwide.

It is worth noting that what the NSO Group revealed in its court documents happened a few years ago. Also, as it turned out, Facebook was not able to purchase the hacking tool.