White Plains spyware firm accused of delivering defective product

A Nigerian company is demanding more than $2.7 million from a White Plains engineering company that it claims sold defective spyware.

Hastearmor Technologies LLC Ltd. accused HSS Development Group Ltd. of deceptive business practices, in a complaint filed Oct. 7 in Westchester Supreme Court, and claims it had to buy another system to “replace the sham software.”

HSS did not respond to an email asking for its side of the story. But in a letter included as an exhibit in the lawsuit, company president Ben Jamil told Hastearmor CEO Abdulwasiu A. Sulaiman that his company “received exactly what it bargained for.”

Hastearmor, based in Abuja, Nigeria, bills itself as a preeminent supplier of systems that intercept or jam communications, according to its website, for African governments fighting terrorism, drug trafficking “and other troublemakers.”

HSS makes such software for governments, law enforcement and corporations, according to its website.

In 2020, the Nigerian Department of State hired Hastearmor to supply cyber surveillance systems for monitoring WhatsApp messages on Android phones.

Hastearmor made a deal with HSS in 2021 to buy the spyware for $2.14 million.

HSS purportedly said its technology could be used to investigate suspected criminals and terrorists “who rely on the security of the messenger services to keep in touch.”

It could intercept data on desktop computers, laptops, tablets and mobile devices. It could capture voices, texts, pictures and videos that are “critical for conducting covert surveillance,” the complaint states. It could monitor WhatsApp, Signal, Viber, Telegram, Tinder, Instagram and Facebook.

Hastearmor says it paid the $2.14 million fee plus a $90,400 advance in “certain payments” to “various third parties” to hold its spot.

Last year, from Nov. 24 to Dec. 20, the system was repeatedly tested and demonstrated. Each time, Hastearmor alleges, the software failed.

HSS blamed the failures on unstable, low speed internet service in Nigeria, according to the complaint, and on old Android test telephones not covered by the contract.

But Jamil claims in the exhibit letter that Sulaiman certified that the software worked, following a demonstration in New York in November 2021. And when the software was modified after operational issues were encountered in a test in Nigeria, “all phones were able to be infected and all information requested was received.”

Hastearmor claims it had to borrow money and spend $2.7 million to get replacement software for its customer.

This past March, Hastearmor demanded a refund but HSS responded, according to the complaint, that there was no basis for a refund.

Hastearmor accuses HSS of breach of contract, fraud, conversion, unjust enrichment, and deceptive business practices. It is represented by Staten Island attorney Mariam Zakhary.