Meta Blocks NSO Group’s New WhatsApp Phishing Attack, Files Contempt Order

Meta on Monday said it detected and blocked spear-phishing attempts linked to Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group.

In addition, the tech giant said it’s filing a federal court contempt order against the company for violating a permanent injunction that barred it from targeting WhatsApp and its users.

“They tried to trick people into clicking on malicious links to drive them to external websites outside of WhatsApp, similar to previously reported 1-click phishing campaigns linked to NSO,” Meta said.

The social media company also said it caught NSO Group creating test accounts and groups on WhatsApp. They have since been taken down by Meta. The list of malicious domains linked to the activity is listed below –

• fr24cast[.]com
• ghazacast[.]com
• ikhwancast[.]com

The development comes a year after NSO Group was fined approximately $168 million in monetary damages, after a U.S. court found the company to have violated U.S. laws by exploiting WhatsApp servers to deploy Pegasus spyware targeting over 1,400 individuals globally.

In 2021, the company was also added to a U.S. Commerce Department blocklist for engaging in activities that are “contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”

“As always, WhatsApp users’ personal messages and calls remain protected with default end-to-end encryption,” Meta said. “We encourage people to keep their apps and devices up to date and report suspicious activity so we can quickly investigate and take action.”

Users who believe they may be at elevated risk of sophisticated cyber attacks because of who they are and what they do are recommended to enable strict account settings to harden their accounts. The feature reduces the attack surface by locking the account to more private settings, such as follows –

• Two-step verification is turned on.
• Link previews are turned off.
• Last seen and online, profile photo, About details, and profile links are locked to contacts only or to a pre-established list of people.
• Only known contacts or a pre-established list of people can be added to groups.

“Strict account settings are an advanced security feature that turns on privacy and security controls to help protect accounts from sophisticated cyber attacks,” Meta notes in its help document. “Strict account settings are an optional, lockdown-style security feature that, when enabled, reduces your vulnerability to cyber attack by limiting functionality.”