With around 1.5 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp is one of the most popular smartphone apps. Until now it was also considered one of the safest. End-to-end encryption, in which the information sent is only readable by the sender and the recipient, should protect data exchange and user privacy from attacks. But now it turned out that a security hole had enabled potential hacker attacks. Malicious software can be installed via phone call. Apparently it makes no difference whether you answer the call or not. Both iOS and Android smartphones could be monitored unnoticed in this way. It is assumed that the camera and microphone on monitored devices can be activated at any time. The hackers also have access to personal SMS messages, emails and video messages.
Both Facebook, the parent company, reported thisfrom WhatsApp, as well as the New York Times. According to the magazine, the hack attempts were first discovered by a lawyer from the United Kingdom. He had his cell phone examined in a laboratory in Canada because he was receiving strange calls on WhatsApp. The researchers were able to determine that someone had tried to hack his smartphone. The software installed on his device was developed by a private company. The company specializes in developing surveillance software products and supplies them to numerous governments around the world.
According to experts, this is not mass surveillance. Rather, it's about individual hacker attacks. Facebook has now released an update that allows users to close the security gap. The company recommends its customers update the app as soon as possible to protect their personal information from potential attacks.
