Tech your username December 22, 2020 On Monday, amici curiae Cisco Systems Inc., Google LLC, GitHub Inc., Internet Association, LinkedIn Corporation, Microsoft Corp., and VMware Inc. asked the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court decision denying two Israeli cybersecurity companies sovereign immunity after they were sued for accessing WhatsApp users’ devices using spyware. The amicus brief contended that the trial court’s determination was correct because extending immunity to such companies drastically would expand the risks posed by powerful cybersecurity tools usually employed for malfeasance. The case originated in October 2019 when Facebook’s WhatsApp sued NSO Group Technologies Ltd. and Q Cyber Technologies Ltd. (collectively NSO) for violating the messaging application’s terms of use, and, moreover, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and state law. Law Street Media reported that WhatsApp accused NSO of illegally delivering malicious code to cell phones and granting NSO unauthorized access to those devices in order to intercept users’ messages, allegedly for foreign government clientele.