“Ah Sh*t, here we go again!”
Yeah, we thought so too when we heard about the alleged hacking of personal data via WhatsApp, by Pegasus!
I mean people are still crying over spilt milk of Cambridge Analytica breach of protocol and they’re still lacking far behind in providing solid privacy? Answers? Zuckerberg!
Via: Vanity Fair
This time the whole fiasco has taken a top-notch as Governments are said to be involved in the ‘Spying Debacle’
The news came into light when WhatsApp, a messaging app owned by Facebook, announced that it is going to sue NSO, an Israeli company that is reportedly behind the technology that allowed hackers (that they claimed were aided by some government officials) to gain access to a WhatsApp user’s phone simply by making a video call.
Point to be noted, EVEN IF YOU DO NOT PICK THE CALL, THEY CAN GAIN COMPLETE ACCESS TO IT BY MAKING A VIDEO CALL!
Via: AndroidPIT
Okay, this is now terrifying to a whole different level! Now the prospect of living in countries like China and North Korea seems safer!
The reports of this hack surfaced earlier this year and WhatsApp had launched a probe into how the hack worked and how many users were affected. Following which WhatsApp has claimed that their investigation leads to solid shreds of evidence of NSO being behind the hack of mobile phones of 1400 users, many of them high-profile journalists and rights workers!
Via: standardmedia.co.ke
According to WhatsApp:
“In May 2019 we stopped a highly sophisticated cyberattack that exploited our video calling system in order to send malware to the mobile devices of a number of WhatsApp users.”
NSO, in response to the allegations, claimed that it only worked with governments, and hence legitimate customers. Thus they weren’t involved in any misuse of the technology.
Via: The Economic Times
Yeah, because independent hacking is illegal but Government aided hacking is legitimate!
Anyway, now comes the interesting turn in the story!
Israeli Government practically shed its foot from NSO asserting they had nothing to do with the ‘alleged hack’ and that NSO works independently.
According to Israeli Security Cabinet Minister Zeev Elkin:
“NSO is a private player using capabilities that Israelis have, thousands of people are in the cyber field, but there is no Israeli Government involvement here, everyone understands that this is not about the state of Israel.”
The boys played well!
Moving on, WhatsApp has announced that it is suing NSO for the alleged breach in privacy. Although we know it won’t matter much because this is not the first time something like this has happened and this surely won’t be the last!
The only thing we can hope is for WhatsApp to take extra steps to ensure its users’ privacy especially when its parent company is already in question mark over its security concerns.
Lastly, I don’t want to give you a shock or anything, but some WhatsApp users were targeted by hackers in India as well, although it is not clear how many or who!
Conclusion: NOBODY IS SAFE!