Apple has filed a lawsuit against Israeli cyber firm NSO Group and its parent company OSY Technologies for alleged surveillance and targeting US Apple users with its Pegasus spyware.
The iPhone maker wants to ban NSO Group from using any Apple software, services or devices to prevent further abuse.
Apple is one of many companies and governments that have come to an end after NSO said it sells its products to law enforcement and intelligence agencies and takes measures to curb abuse. The company was placed on a trade blacklist by the US government earlier this month. The NSO has also faced legal action or criticism from Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Cisco Systems.
NSO is accused of being involved in circumventing security for products made by these companies and selling that circumvention in the form of hacking tools to foreign governments.
In a complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Apple said NSO's tools were used in concerted efforts in 2021 to target and attack Apple customers and that US citizens have been surveilled by NSO snoopers on mobile devices that can and do cross international borders. Apple said that the NSO group created more than 100 fake Apple ID user credentials to carry out its attacks.