The Apex Times
Above the Noise
Business Wire
BusinessEli Lilly to buy Merida Biosciences for $2.88 billion, setting off investor focus on the deal’s strategic fitThe Apex TimesBusinessApple says it has evidence a former employee destroyed material after learning of an investigationThe Apex TimesBusinessTelecom comparison turns on profitability pace versus leverage: AT&T’s margin jump, Verizon’s debt loadThe Apex TimesBusinessAnthropic agrees to a $35 billion cloud computing deal tied to Nvidia-backed Lambda, report saysThe Apex TimesBusinessAMD has tended to fall in September, but market history is only part of the storyThe Apex TimesBusinessDuolingo shares jump after results point to steady user momentum, according to Yahoo FinanceThe Apex TimesBusinessNetflix confirms production of Korean series “Materesa (WT),” led by “Queen of Tears” director and writers behind “The East Palace”The Apex TimesBusinessFTC and 22 States Sue Amazon, Alleging It Secretly Marked Up Ads Shown to Marketplace SellersThe Apex TimesBusinessDeere shares gained as market focused on a jump in profitsThe Apex TimesBusinessBaird lifts Deere to Outperform, citing potential agricultural recovery and raises target to $800The Apex TimesBusinessVenezuela’s energy reopening talks could create upside for Chevron and GE Vernova, but agreements still face major hurdlesThe Apex TimesBusinessTrump Says ExxonMobil Is Preparing to Re-enter Venezuela as Investment Outlook ShiftsThe Apex TimesBusinessEli Lilly to buy Merida Biosciences for $2.88 billion, setting off investor focus on the deal’s strategic fitThe Apex TimesBusinessApple says it has evidence a former employee destroyed material after learning of an investigationThe Apex TimesBusinessTelecom comparison turns on profitability pace versus leverage: AT&T’s margin jump, Verizon’s debt loadThe Apex TimesBusinessAnthropic agrees to a $35 billion cloud computing deal tied to Nvidia-backed Lambda, report saysThe Apex TimesBusinessAMD has tended to fall in September, but market history is only part of the storyThe Apex TimesBusinessDuolingo shares jump after results point to steady user momentum, according to Yahoo FinanceThe Apex TimesBusinessNetflix confirms production of Korean series “Materesa (WT),” led by “Queen of Tears” director and writers behind “The East Palace”The Apex TimesBusinessFTC and 22 States Sue Amazon, Alleging It Secretly Marked Up Ads Shown to Marketplace SellersThe Apex TimesBusinessDeere shares gained as market focused on a jump in profitsThe Apex TimesBusinessBaird lifts Deere to Outperform, citing potential agricultural recovery and raises target to $800The Apex TimesBusinessVenezuela’s energy reopening talks could create upside for Chevron and GE Vernova, but agreements still face major hurdlesThe Apex TimesBusinessTrump Says ExxonMobil Is Preparing to Re-enter Venezuela as Investment Outlook ShiftsThe Apex TimesBusinessEli Lilly to buy Merida Biosciences for $2.88 billion, setting off investor focus on the deal’s strategic fitThe Apex TimesBusinessApple says it has evidence a former employee destroyed material after learning of an investigationThe Apex TimesBusinessTelecom comparison turns on profitability pace versus leverage: AT&T’s margin jump, Verizon’s debt loadThe Apex TimesBusinessAnthropic agrees to a $35 billion cloud computing deal tied to Nvidia-backed Lambda, report saysThe Apex TimesBusinessAMD has tended to fall in September, but market history is only part of the storyThe Apex TimesBusinessDuolingo shares jump after results point to steady user momentum, according to Yahoo FinanceThe Apex TimesBusinessNetflix confirms production of Korean series “Materesa (WT),” led by “Queen of Tears” director and writers behind “The East Palace”The Apex TimesBusinessFTC and 22 States Sue Amazon, Alleging It Secretly Marked Up Ads Shown to Marketplace SellersThe Apex TimesBusinessDeere shares gained as market focused on a jump in profitsThe Apex TimesBusinessBaird lifts Deere to Outperform, citing potential agricultural recovery and raises target to $800The Apex TimesBusinessVenezuela’s energy reopening talks could create upside for Chevron and GE Vernova, but agreements still face major hurdlesThe Apex TimesBusinessTrump Says ExxonMobil Is Preparing to Re-enter Venezuela as Investment Outlook ShiftsThe Apex TimesBusinessEli Lilly to buy Merida Biosciences for $2.88 billion, setting off investor focus on the deal’s strategic fitThe Apex TimesBusinessApple says it has evidence a former employee destroyed material after learning of an investigationThe Apex TimesBusinessTelecom comparison turns on profitability pace versus leverage: AT&T’s margin jump, Verizon’s debt loadThe Apex TimesBusinessAnthropic agrees to a $35 billion cloud computing deal tied to Nvidia-backed Lambda, report saysThe Apex TimesBusinessAMD has tended to fall in September, but market history is only part of the storyThe Apex TimesBusinessDuolingo shares jump after results point to steady user momentum, according to Yahoo FinanceThe Apex TimesBusinessNetflix confirms production of Korean series “Materesa (WT),” led by “Queen of Tears” director and writers behind “The East Palace”The Apex TimesBusinessFTC and 22 States Sue Amazon, Alleging It Secretly Marked Up Ads Shown to Marketplace SellersThe Apex TimesBusinessDeere shares gained as market focused on a jump in profitsThe Apex TimesBusinessBaird lifts Deere to Outperform, citing potential agricultural recovery and raises target to $800The Apex TimesBusinessVenezuela’s energy reopening talks could create upside for Chevron and GE Vernova, but agreements still face major hurdlesThe Apex TimesBusinessTrump Says ExxonMobil Is Preparing to Re-enter Venezuela as Investment Outlook ShiftsThe Apex Times
Back to front
WhatsApp tells a federal court it thwarted renewed NSO-linked phishing attempts, while pressing for contempt
The Apex Times

THE APEX TIMES

Business/The Apex Times/Jun 8, 5:37 AM EDT

WhatsApp tells a federal court it thwarted renewed NSO-linked phishing attempts, while pressing for contempt

Meta said it disrupted social engineering designed to move targets off WhatsApp, and it asked the court to punish NSO Group for violating a permanent injunction that bars the company from targeting WhatsApp users.

By The Apex Times Newsroom4 min readAI-assisted Apex article

WhatsApp said it has caught and disrupted renewed spyware-adjacent targeting linked to NSO Group, and it is asking the court to hold NSO in contempt of an order meant to prevent future attacks on WhatsApp users. In a post dated June 8, 2026, Meta framed the latest effort as part of an ongoing legal and security fight after a prior case led to a landmark verdict and a permanent injunction barring NSO from targeting WhatsApp and its users.

WhatsApp’s complaint with the court is tied to what Meta described as social engineering attempts that relied on tricking people into clicking malicious links that would route them to external websites outside WhatsApp. Meta said it reached that assessment after investigating user reports, and it compared the approach to earlier “1-click phishing” campaigns previously attributed to NSO-linked activity. In addition to the link-based tactics, WhatsApp said NSO-linked actors created test accounts and groups inside WhatsApp, which WhatsApp then took down.

The post also said WhatsApp is sharing threat indicators so people can check whether they were targeted by NSO-linked social engineering attempts across channels, including text messages, email, and WhatsApp messages. Meta included examples of malicious domains it said were used in those attempts, listing obfuscated versions of ikhwancast[.]com, ghazacast[.]com, and fr24cast[.]com.

Meta’s broader contention is that spyware vendors do not stop developing capabilities just because communications platforms win court orders. The company cited its case history since 2019 and pointed to NSO’s own testimony in court that it looks for “vectors, or ways to access the phone” beyond WhatsApp, including through browsers, operating systems, and other applications. Meta argued that, because those pathways are wider than one messaging service, restrictions must remain in place.

In the post, Meta described spyware as a national security threat and highlighted the range of reported targets for surveillance-for-hire firms, including journalists, government officials, military personnel, and humanitarian organizations. The company said the U.S. government’s Entity List restrictions and the court’s permanent injunction should not be loosened, arguing that doing so would undermine national security and increase risk for companies and billions of people that depend on secure communications.

Meta connected the legal fight to an industry-wide effort, saying it worked with Citizen Lab after first discovering the 2019 attack and notifying targets, and that other organizations supported the case when it went to trial. It also said it was joined last month by 12 civil rights organizations that filed amicus briefs in opposition to NSO’s appeal of the permanent injunction, describing the coalition as a mix of security researchers, privacy advocates, and digital rights experts.

Separately, Meta said it is making a contribution to the Spyware Accountability Initiative (SAI), a fund intended to support civil society groups that expose and challenge spyware abuse. SAI’s description emphasizes grants for work spanning digital forensics, legal advocacy, user support, and research into spyware harms, and it says it has awarded grants since 2023 to multiple organizations across regions. Meta positioned the payment as part of its promise to help strengthen digital rights work that confronts spyware attacks.

Meta pointed to examples that it said illustrate how civil society efforts can lead to security outcomes, including a Citizen Lab zero-day discovery that prompted an Apple security update for more than a billion devices, and a Greek court case that it said resulted in criminal convictions of spyware executives based on forensic and investigative reporting. The post characterized the work as demanding, sometimes dangerous, and frequently under-resourced compared with the spyware industry’s ongoing development of new exploits.

Meta did not provide additional quantitative details in its June 8 update, such as how many accounts were targeted or the exact technical chain of events behind the links. It also did not specify what, if any, new legal filings have been submitted beyond the contempt request, beyond describing the step it is taking with the court. What to watch next is whether the court responds to the contempt request and whether WhatsApp issues further indicator updates if new domains or tactics appear, especially as NSO-linked social engineering attempts appear to be shifting toward tactics that drive targets outside WhatsApp before any compromise attempt occurs.

Why It Matters

  • A contempt filing indicates that Meta is treating NSO-linked activity as an ongoing breach issue rather than a one-time incident, potentially keeping pressure on NSO while the appeal process continues.
  • The episode highlights how spyware targeting does not have to originate inside WhatsApp to be relevant to WhatsApp users, since social engineering can move victims to external sites.
  • By publishing threat indicators, Meta is increasing operational transparency for users and researchers, which may improve detection and response across multiple platforms.
  • The emphasis on court enforcement and Entity List restrictions suggests that the practical boundary for spyware vendors may be defined as much by legal compliance as by technical defenses.

Sources

Key Facts

  • WhatsApp said it disrupted NSO-linked social engineering by investigating user reports about malicious links that moved targets to external websites outside WhatsApp.
  • Meta said it also took down NSO-linked test accounts and groups created on WhatsApp.
  • Meta said it is asking the court to hold NSO Group in contempt of a permanent injunction barring NSO from targeting WhatsApp and its users.
  • WhatsApp said it shared threat indicators that include examples of malicious domains such as ikhwancast[.]com, ghazacast[.]com, and fr24cast[.]com.
  • Meta said NSO’s CEO testified that NSO looks for “vectors, or ways to access the phone” beyond WhatsApp, including through browsers and other applications.
  • Meta said SAI supports civil society efforts against spyware, and it announced a new contribution to support that ecosystem.

Technology Related

WhatsApp tells a federal court it thwarted renewed NSO-linked phishing attempts, while pressing for contempt | The Apex Times