Jane Edwards
A breach through Facebook-owned messaging application WhatsApp targeted the smartphones of senior government and military officials from at least 20 countries, Reuters reported Friday.
WhatsApp sued Israel-based hacking platform developer NSO Group Tuesday for allegedly selling a hacking tool that allowed its clients to exploit a vulnerability in the app-owned servers and intrude into the mobile devices of at least 1.4K users from April 29 to May 10.
NSO said it exclusively offers its products to government clients.
Sources said some of the targeted officials are in the U.S., Mexico, India, Pakistan, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates and many of the countries affected by the breach are U.S. allies.
WhatsApp said it has notified the affected users of the cyber intrusion.
