Bezos Mohammed bin Salman Israel and the hacking scandal

The Israeli company at the centre of allegations that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was the victim of a malicious phone hack by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia faces court action by Facebook's WhatsApp next month over a cyber attack against 1,400 people in 2019. The company, NSO Group, a subsidiary of Q Cyber Technologies, based near Tel Aviv, developed the Pegasus spyware which was allegedly used by Mohammed bin Salman to breach Mr Bezos's iPhone and extract a mass of private data including details of an affair from his WhatsApp account. Saudi officials have described the accusation made in a UN-backed report as "absurd". US sources linked to American service providers, said NSO was paid "by governments" to provide the highly sophisticated spyware, One source said the US and Britain seemed reluctant to strengthen laws against the use of such advanced spyware. WhatsApp has urged the US Justice Department to investigate the alleged use of Pegasus spyware against its customers. But the US government had been reticent about acting against spyware companies, the sources said. US intelligence sources said any investigation into the hacking of Mr Bezos's phone was a matter for the FBI as it involved an American citizen. An FBI spokesman would not comment on whether the agency had begun an investigation or whether there was any suggestion of a wider involvement in the accusation that Mr Bezos's phone had been targeted. Mr Bezos is owner of The Washington Post, often seen as a critic of the Trump administration. Details of the affair which ended Mr Bezos's marriage were leaked to The National Inquirer, the American tabloid whose owner is a strong supporter of President Trump. WhatsApp is already suing NSO, accusing the company of being behind a cyber attack that affected the video calling system used by 1,400 customers, including 100 journalists and human rights activists. It's the first time an encrypted message provider has taken legal action against a private company accused of targeting its users. NSO denies being involved. The court case starts in San Francisco early next month. When the law suit was filed in October ast year, the NSO Group said it would vigorously fight the lawsuit and issued a statement saying the sole purpose of the company was "to provide technology to licensed government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to help them fight terrorism and serious crime".