(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 28, 2016 An Israeli woman uses her smartphone in front of the building housing the Israeli NSO group, on August 28, 2016, in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv. - WhatsApp on May 14, 2019 encouraged its users to upgrade the app to plug a security breach that allowed sophisticated attackers to sneak spyware into phones. The vulnerability -- first reported by the Financial Times -- allowed hackers to insert malicious software on phones by calling the target using the app. The FT cited a spyware dealer as saying the tool was developed by a shadowy Israel-based firm called the NSO Group. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Israeli spyware maker NSO Group Ltd was in the limelight on May 14 after its software was suspected of being used in hacking the phones of human rights activists through WhatsApp. It’s not the company’s first brush with controversy.
Human rights groups and researchers have raised alarms for years about NSO Group, which makes mobile device surveillance software that ostensibly helps governments combat “terror and crime”. Activists, however, say governments misuse NSO’s products to target human rights defenders, journalists and critics.
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