Tech giant Apple announced on Tuesday that they would sue NSO Group, an Israeli firm known for its spyware that can hack phones.
ADVERTISEMENTTech giant Apple announced on Tuesday that they would sue NSO Group, an Israeli firm known for its spyware that can hack into phones.
Apple is seeking to ban NSO Group "from using any Apple software, services, or devices."
"State-sponsored actors like the NSO Group spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without effective accountability. That needs to change," said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, in a statement.
NSO Group's pegasus software has been used previously to hack journalists and activists' phones without them knowing.
These "zero-click attacks" have been observed since May 2018 and still continue, according to Amnesty International.
NSO Group says its technology is used to hep "government agencies prevent and investigate terrorism and crime".
But earlier this month, the firm was added to the US Department of Commerce's list for malicious cyber activities.
The US government said there was evidence the Israeli firm "developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used these tools to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers."
The company is also being sued by Facebook for targeting WhatsApp users.