Apple has tried to present itself as combatting the phenomenon of hacking of iPhones by states and security organizations, and three years ago it filed a lawsuit in San Francisco against Israeli cyberattack company NSO. At that time, the company was the subject of investigative reports by journalists all over the world, and a symbol of the Biden administration’s fight against hacking and monitoring software aimed at mobile telephones.
Until 2021, Herzliya-based NSO was the world’s largest provider of software for hacking telephones and monitoring suspects, and it served dozens of countries, among them the UAE, Mexico, India, France, and Germany. Since then, however, the company has lost much of its market share, and the US government imposed many restrictions on Israeli cyber intelligence companies, leading some of them to shut down.
Monitoring software such as that developed by NSO enables security services to penetrate suspects’ telephones and to monitor them by means of the phone’s camera, its microphone, and location services, and to read emails and chats. This became a very effective way of locating terrorists, but it was claimed that authoritarian regimes were making unauthorized use of it to monitor political opponents. The industry was divided between companies that comply with Ministry of Defense export controls, such as NSO and Paragon, and those set up by Israelis overseas that do not comply with Israeli law, among them Intellexa.
A matter of national security
Earlier this week, Apple decided to withdraw its suit against NSO, and gave two hair-raising reasons. The first is connected to a case that continues to proceed, and that is WhatsApp’s lawsuit against NSO. Apple says that, in order to prove its claims against NSO, it requires documents from the company, but that it was known in the case of WhatsApp’s lawsuit that Israeli government agencies had seized documents from NSO and had sought to prevent sensitive information reaching American hands, according to a report by "The Guardian" cited in Apple’s motion.
What was behind the removed documents? Apparently it was agreements of the State of Israel, and other countries, with NSO. Such information would include the commercial agreements, the characteristics of the order and the restrictions imposed on each of them - commercial and security information that is usually known only to the parties and to the Defense Export Controls Agency in the Ministry of Defense, and that ultimately involves national security.
"While Apple takes no position on the truth or falsity of the Guardian Story described above, its existence presents cause for concern about the potential for Apple to obtain the discovery it needs," "The Washington Post" quoted from Apple’s filing.
Another, no less surprising reason for Apple’s withdrawal from its legal battle with NSO is the fact that the evidence it would have to provide in the course of the trial about how it detects hacking of its telephones would be liable to become a double-edged sword, and reveal to the world how it protects its users from such hacks. Even more seriously, the accounts of the lawyers involved in the trial were liable to be hacked by elements interested in obtaining this information, the company suggested.
In general, Apple is making clever use of its withdrawal from the lawsuit to bolster its image and publicize its cyber capabilities. It is depicting the importance of its ability to protect not just against spyware but against all kinds of cyberattacks, and claiming that any information disclosed in the course of the court case would be liable to interest many potential hackers.
It took the trouble to mention how much the special warnings it sent to iPhone users that their devices had been hacked helped investigations by NGOs and the media, and led them to analyze the software code and learn more about the methods of the spyware companies. It also mentioned the new "Lockdown Mode" that limits the ways in which an iPhone can be attacked. Apple concluded by saying that it preferred to invest in developing new user protections rather than in pursuing a legal battle with NSO.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 19, 2024.
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