NSO Group Impersonated Facebook To Help Clients Hack Targets (vice.com) 7
Infamous Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group created a web domain that looked as if it belonged to Facebook's security team to entice targets to click on links that would install the company's powerful cell phone hacking technology, according to data analyzed by Motherboard. From the report: It is not uncommon for hackers working for governments to impersonate Facebook, perhaps with a phishing page that displays a Facebook login screen but which secretly steals a target's password. But NSO's approach complicates its ongoing conflict with the tech giant. NSO is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Facebook, which is suing the surveillance firm for leveraging a vulnerability in WhatsApp to let NSO clients remotely hack phones. Motherboard has also found more evidence that NSO used infrastructure based in the United States; a server used by NSO's system to deliver malware was owned by Amazon. A former NSO employee provided Motherboard with the IP address of a server setup to infect phones with NSO's Pegasus hacking tool.
Unauthorised Access to a Network (Score:5, Insightful)
Throw them in the Federal slammer for the mandatory minimum 20.
FYI the phrase is "protected computer" (Score:2)
I think the phrase you're looking for is "protected computer". Under CFAA (18 U.S.C. Â 1030), unauthorized access to a protected computer for the purpose of committing fraud is a crime.
Over time, the interpretation of "protected computer" has been stretched from its original intended meaning because the text of the statute has rhe "interstate commerce" phrase:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/de... [cornell.edu]
I'm not sure that it covers the bad guy's phone, though.
Anyway, for more information here is the CFAA
https://ww [cornell.edu]
Facebook should improve their security (Score:3)
Fix your security and these guys shut down instantly without making lawyers rich and clogging courts.
Legal battle (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
They're an Israeli company. Likely some executives with dual citizenship will pay a bribe, er, make some substantial campaign donations to come US congresscritters and it will all go away.
Re: (Score:1)