Whatsapp urges users to update to the latest version of WhatsApp as they discovered a
vulnerability that allows spyware to be injected into a user’s phone through the WhatsApp's
calling feature.
According to a Financial Times Report, this spyware was developed by the Israeli cyber
intelligence company NSO Group.
By calling the user on WhatsApp attackers could transmit the malicious code to a target’s
device and infect the call whether the user accepts or answers the call or not. Logs of the calls
were often used to be erased.
The Israeli surveillance company NSO Group had reportedly been targeting a UK-based
lawyer who helped a group of Mexican journalist, government critics and a man of Saudi
Arabian dissent living in Canada. It has been claimed that the supposed hacker had also
repeatedly attempted to install Pegasus – a program developed by the company that can turn
on a phone's camera and microphone to surf through the phone's data on the phone in recent
weeks.
Whatsapp said that the vulnerability was discovered one month back and that they quickly
addressed the problem on its own. An update to the application was published on Monday,
and the company is urging users to install the updated version of the application as a caution.