Hackers were able to install a spying software on some phones after WhatsApp confirmed there had been an attack. The spying software is made by an Israeli company NSO Group which sells their software to many governments to be used for fighting crime and terror. They say they do not authorise the use of their software for illegal spying on civilians.

The attack was carried out by using WhatsApp’s voice calling function to ring the phone, the person does not need to pick up the phone and the virus would be installed. The software was able to turn on your microphone or camera, even able to read your messages, emails and see photos. WhatsApp found out about the virus and software in early May and have been working on an update to fix the issue. WhatsApp then released a security update have asked all there users to update there App right away after.

WhatsApp which is owned by Facebook said the attack targeted a “select number” of users. WhatsApp says it is too early to say how many people were targeted or how long the software was being used against WhatsApp.

Tags

• WhatsApp
• Attack
• Virus
• Phone
• Hacker

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