An appeals court on Wednesday rejected a bid by the widow of murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi to revive a lawsuit against spyware maker NSO Group, whom she alleged played a role in her husband’s death. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia had dismissed the suit from Hanan Elatr Khashoggi,…
Category: U.S. courts
Cybercrime, fbi, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Global Security News, Matthew Lane, North America, powerschool, Ransomware, Shiny Hunters, ShinyHunters, Technology, U.S. courts
Massachusetts man will plead guilty in PowerSchool hack case
A Massachusetts man will plead guilty to charges related to the hack of PowerSchool, the education software vendor that says it supports more than 60 million students, and that led to ransom demands at school boards and districts across the United States. In court documents filed Tuesday, prosecutors spelled out charges against 19-year-old Assumption University…
Global Security News, Meta, NSO Group, privacy, Spyware, Technology, U.S. courts, WhatsApp
NSO Group owes $168M in damages to WhatsApp over spyware infections, jury says
A federal jury decided Tuesday that NSO Group must pay WhatsApp approximately $168 million in damages after a judge ruled that it violated anti-hacking laws when 1,400 of the messaging application’s users became infected with Pegasus spyware. It’s the latest in a series of wins in court for WhatsApp in its pioneering lawsuit that has produced…
Cybersecurity, election, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, U.S. courts, voting systems
Trump calls on Colorado to release election-denying clerk from jail
President Donald Trump is calling on Colorado state officials to release Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk serving a nine-year prison sentence for stealing and sharing sensitive voting system data in a failed attempt to bolster Trump’s claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. In a Truth Social post Monday, Trump…
Exploits, Global Security News, Israel, Jamal Khashoggi, NSO Group, privacy, Spyware, Technology, U.S. courts, WhatsApp
Judge limits evidence about NSO Group customers, victims in damages trial
A federal judge last week placed strict limits on the kind of evidence NSO Group can raise during a trial on damages in the lawsuit WhatsApp brought against the spyware vendor over allegations it hacked 1,400 of the messaging platform’s users. Under the order, NSO Group is prohibited from presenting evidence about its customers’ identities,…
Cybersecurity, El Salvador, Global Security News, North America, NSO Group, privacy, Spyware, Technology, U.S. courts
Judges strike skeptical note of NSO Group’s argument to dismiss case from El Salvadoran journos
A panel of U.S. judges considering an appeal of a ruling that went against El Salvadoran journalists suing NSO Group over alleged infections of their phone by the company’s Pegasus spyware appeared more skeptical Thursday of the vendor’s arguments than those of the reporters. Judge James Donato of the District Court for the Northern District…
Cybersecurity, Global Security News, North America, Paige Thompson, U.S. courts
Capital One hacker Paige Thompson got too light a sentence, appeals court rules
A federal appeals court overruled a district court judge’s sentence for Capital One hacker Paige Thompson this week, deciding that the sentence of five years’ probation plus time served was too lenient. Describing the hack as the “second largest data breach in the United States at the time, causing tens of millions of dollars in…
Cybercrime, Europol, Global Security News, law enforcement, U.S. courts
Investigator says differing names for hacker groups, hackers studying investigative methods hinders law enforcement
Malicious hacking groups pay close attention to public documents related to criminal prosecutions, and the lack of standardized names for those groups hampers U.S. federal law enforcement, an investigator said in a recent speech. The investigator, who could not be named under the conditions of the speech, said those are just two of many problems…
Citizen Lab, Cybersecurity, Global Security News, ICE, NSO Group, paragon, privacy, Spyware, Technology, Threats, U.S. courts, WhatsApp
WhatsApp says it disrupted spyware campaign aimed at reporters, civil society
WhatsApp said Friday that it had disrupted a spyware campaign that targeted 90 people, including journalists and activists. The company tied to the campaign, according to WhatsApp, is Israeli firm Paragon, which last fall signed a $2 million contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and recently was purchased by U.S. private equity giant AE International.…
california, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, North America, NSO Group, pegasus, privacy, Spyware, U.S. courts, WhatsApp
Judge grants ruling in favor of WhatsApp against spyware firm NSO Group
A federal judge has dealt the first major legal blow against spyware maker NSO Group, ruling in favor of WhatsApp in a five-year-old lawsuit against the Israeli firm over allegations that it hacked the chat service. Northern California District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton made her ruling on Friday as a summary judgment, thus not requiring…
china, Cybercrime, Department of Justice, Department of Justice (DOJ), Geopolitics, Global Security News, Justice Department, Mandiant, North America, North Korea, North Korean IT workers, Russia, State Department, U.S. courts, U.S. Department of Justice
Court indicts 14 North Korean IT workers tied to $88 million in illicit gains
A federal court has indicted 14 more North Korean IT workers as part of an ongoing U.S. government campaign to crack down on Pyongyang’s use of tech professionals to swindle American companies and nonprofits. The Justice Department said the 14 indicted workers generated at least $88 million throughout a conspiracy that stretched over approximately six…