WhatsApp hack targets prominent politician -- what you need to know
WhatsApp hack targets prominent politician -- what yous need to know
A leading Castilian pol who has campaigned for Catalan independence had his phone targeted by spyware in an incident seen as "domestic espionage", according to the Guardian.
Messaging app WhatsApp has written to Roger Torrent, the president of the Catalan regional parliament, to ostend he was the target of a cyberattack that took place via the platform in mid-2019.
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Apparent human activity of espionage
WhatsApp'southward letter, which has been viewed by journalists at the Guardian and El Pais, claims that the attackers targeted Torrent in order to "proceeds unauthorised access to data and communications on the device".
Niamh Sweeney, managing director of public policy for Europe, the Eye East and Asia at WhatsApp, explained in the letter that attackers, maybe working at the bidding of the Spanish national government, used the messaging platform to spy on Torrent's phone without him knowing.
She wrote: "Past 'targeted' we are referring to the fact that the attackers attempted to inject malicious lawmaking into Mr Torrent's WhatsApp application.
"Based on the information bachelor to united states of america, we are not in a position to confirm whether Mr Torrent'south device was compromised every bit this could only be accomplished through an exhaustive forensic assay of the device."
A wider assault
Sweeney explained that the Catalan nationalist pol was among i,400 WhatsApp users across the world targeted by spyware in 2019, including government officials, diplomatic professionals, reporters and human rights campaigners in many countries.
In all cases, the diverse perpetrators are believed to take used spyware manufactured and sold to governments by Israeli cybersecurity house NSO Grouping. The firm hasn't issued a comment on the incident, co-ordinate to the Guardian.
The WhatsApp flaw exploited by the NSO Grouping spyware was patched on May 13, 2019.
Two other members of the Catalan independence movement were targeted in the WhatsApp espionage, the Guardian said in an earlier story. The newspaper said these are the first known instances of NSO Grouping spyware being used in Europe.
"We advocate for strong legal oversight of cyber weapons like the ones used in this cyberattack to ensure they are non used to violate individual rights and the freedoms people deserve, wherever they are in the world," said Sweeney in her letter of the alphabet to Torrent.
The Guardian said Torrent is preparing to sue Félix Sanz Roldán, the old boss of the Castilian National Intelligence Center. He led the agency when the attacks took identify last year.
WhatsApp has sued NSO Group in U.S. federal court for violating the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The case is still proceeding.
Such attacks are growing
Christoph Hebeisen, director of security intelligence at Lookout man, warned that these types of attacks are becoming more than common across the world.
He said: "The utilize of sophisticated mobile surveillanceware for domestic spying purposes appears more than widespread than previously known, including in western democracies.
"In calorie-free of widespread election meddling and spying on political parties and movements all over the earth it is articulate that protecting information and communication infrastructure including mobile devices is quickly becoming critical to any organisation with a need for confidentiality."
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Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/whatsapp-spanish-hacking
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