Μεγάλες εταιρείες του διαδικτύου, όπως οι Microsoft, Google, Cisco και VMWare, υπέγραψαν σήμερα ένα πρακτικό για την υποστήριξη της αγωγής του Facebook εναντίον του Ομίλου NSO, μιας ισραηλινής εταιρείας που κατασκευάζει και πωλεί hacking εργαλεία σε ξένες κυβερνήσεις.
In addition to the four companies we mentioned above, the support protocol was also signed by Microsoft subsidiaries GitHub and LinkedIn, as well as the Internet Association, an industry lobby group that represents dozens of other tech companies, including Amazon, Twitter, Reddit, Discord, PayPal, eBay, Uber, and many others.
The report was filed along with the lawsuit filed by Facebook against the NSO Group in October 2019.
At the time, Facebook reported that NSO had developed an exploit for the app Whatsapp for mobile phones that he sold to government hackers.
A later investigation found that the exploit was used to install malware on the phones of more than 1.400 WhatsApp users, lawyers, journalists, human rights activists, political dissidents, diplomats and other senior foreign officials.
Facebook claimed that NSO Group committed a crime. In the months following the filing of the lawsuit, NSO Group stated that it merely provided software to government officials.
With today's brief description of the minutes, the signatories want to show the judges that they support the position of FAcebook.
In a publication released by Microsoft today, explains its decision to sign the Minutes of Support [PDF], stating that companies such as NSO, often referred to as cyber-mercenaries or PSOAs (private-sector offensive actors), are currently operating in a gray legal area without rules.
Tom Burt, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Security & Trust, says the NSO Group is trying to set a dangerous legal precedent with the Facebook case "by trying to cover the legal immunity afforded to its government clients, which will protect company when developing its tools harm innocent people and businesses. "