Top Officials in 20 Countries Targeted by WhatsApp Vulnerability

High-ranking government officials from 20 countries, many of which are U.S. allies, were targeted this year in attacks exploiting a vulnerability in the popular messaging app WhatsApp. According to sources familiar with the investigation, attackers used a bug that allowed them to gain control over the targeted devices.

The WhatsApp security team launched an internal investigation, which revealed that a “significant” portion of the victims were senior government officials and military personnel. The attackers managed to reach government employees in at least 20 countries. Experts involved in the investigation believe that the severity of these attacks could have political and diplomatic consequences.

Facebook Sues NSO Group Over Exploited Vulnerability

Recently, it was reported that Facebook has filed a lawsuit against the Israeli company NSO Group, which sells spyware. The tech giant alleges that NSO Group was directly involved in exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in WhatsApp, which was later used in attacks on 1,400 users.

Earlier reports suggested that NSO Group employees developed a special exploit that could be used to attack WhatsApp’s VoIP call feature. For their part, NSO Group representatives stated that they sell exploits exclusively to governments.