Govt officials world over among 1.4K WhatsApp users targeted in 2019: WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart

Senior government officials from across the world including individuals in high national security positions who are allies of the US were targeted by governments using the NSO Group spyware in a 2019 attack against 1400 WhatsApp users according to the messaging apps Chief Executive Officer The Guardian reportedWhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart disclosed the new details about individuals who were targeted in the attack after revelations this week by the Pegasus Project a collaboration of 17 media organisations which investigated NSO the Israeli company that sells its powerful surveillance software to government clients around the worldCathcart said that he saw parallels between the attack against WhatsApp users in 2019 which is now the subject of a lawsuit brought by WhatsApp against NSO and reports about a massive data leak which are at the centre of the Pegasus ProjectThe reporting matches what we saw in the attack we defeated two years ago it is very consistent with what we were loud about then Cathcart said in an interview with The GuardianIn addition to the senior government officials WhatsApp found that journalists and human rights activists were targeted in the 2019 attack against its users Many of the targets in the WhatsApp case he said had no business being under surveillance in any way shape or form the report saidAlso read Israel to examine tighter controls on export of spywares like PegasusThis should be a wakeup call for security on the internet hellip mobile phones are either safe for everyone or they are not safe for everyone he saidAs per the report Cathcart questioned NSOs claim that the figure was in itself exaggerated saying that WhatsApp had recorded an attack against 1400 users over a twoweek period in 2019That tells us that over a longer period of time over a multiyear period of time the numbers of people being attacked are very high he said adding Thats why we felt it was so important to raise the concern around thisWhen WhatsApp says it believes its users were targeted it means the company has evidence that an NSO server attempted to install malware on a users device The Guardian saidWhen WhatsApp announced two years ago that its users had been targeted by the NSO malware it said 100 of the 1400 targets were journalists human rights defenders and activists The users were targeted through a WhatsApp vulnerability that was later fixedAs per the report Cathcart said he had discussed the 2019 attack against WhatsApp users with governments around the worldHe also praised the recent moves by Microsoft and others in the technology industry who are speaking out about the dangers of malware and called on Apple whose phones are vulnerable to malware infections to adopt their approach according to the reportI hope that Apple will start taking that approach too Be loud join in Its not enough to say most of our users dont need to worry about this Its not enough to say lsquooh this is only thousands or tens of thousands of victims Cathcart was quoted as sayingIf this is affecting journalists all around the world this is affecting human rights defenders all around the world that affects us all And if anyones phone is not secured that means everyones phone is not secure he addedHe also called on governments to help create accountability for spyware makers the report saidThe Guardian reported that WhatsApp had launched its lawsuit against NSO in late 2019 claiming that the Israeli company was responsible for sending malware to WhatsApp users phonesA judge in the case pointed out that the underlying facts in the case that malicious code owned by NSO was sent through WhatsApps service did not appear to be disputed Instead the lawsuit revolved around whether NSOs sovereign customers were to blame or the company itself the report saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever