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The company wanted to acquire Pegasus software for monitoring iPhone users.
Facebook was trying to buy Pegasus software from the Israeli spyware manufacturer NSO Group Technologies in order to monitor the activity of users of iOS devices.
According to court documents published by NSO Group, Facebook intended to acquire the spyware product Pegasus, capable of extracting user data from the cloud storage of Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. Data is exported, giving software operators access to confidential user data. The data collected includes all messages and photos, login credentials, and device location information.
NSO Group has a very mixed reputation, as it sells its products not only to law enforcement agencies, but also to authoritarian governments that harass human rights activists and journalists. But according to NSO Group CEO Shalev Hulio, two Facebook representatives contacted the company in October 2017 and intended to acquire the right to use certain Pegasus features.
“According to company representatives, Facebook was concerned that its method of collecting user data using the Onavo Protect application is less effective on Apple devices than on Android. Facebook wanted to use the supposed capabilities of Pegasus to monitor users of Apple devices and was ready to pay for the ability to monitor users of Onavo Protect, ”the court document says.
Facebook allegedly offered the NSO Group a monthly fee for each Onavo Protect user. But the NSO Group refused to sell on the grounds that Facebook is a private person.
Facebook was trying to buy Pegasus software from the Israeli spyware manufacturer NSO Group Technologies in order to monitor the activity of users of iOS devices.
According to court documents published by NSO Group, Facebook intended to acquire the spyware product Pegasus, capable of extracting user data from the cloud storage of Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. Data is exported, giving software operators access to confidential user data. The data collected includes all messages and photos, login credentials, and device location information.
NSO Group has a very mixed reputation, as it sells its products not only to law enforcement agencies, but also to authoritarian governments that harass human rights activists and journalists. But according to NSO Group CEO Shalev Hulio, two Facebook representatives contacted the company in October 2017 and intended to acquire the right to use certain Pegasus features.
“According to company representatives, Facebook was concerned that its method of collecting user data using the Onavo Protect application is less effective on Apple devices than on Android. Facebook wanted to use the supposed capabilities of Pegasus to monitor users of Apple devices and was ready to pay for the ability to monitor users of Onavo Protect, ”the court document says.
Facebook allegedly offered the NSO Group a monthly fee for each Onavo Protect user. But the NSO Group refused to sell on the grounds that Facebook is a private person.