According to people familiar with the WhatApp’s investigation team, senior government officials in multiple U.S. and its allied countries were targeted with hacking software in the beginning of 2019. The software used Facebook Inc's WhatsApp to take over users' phones.
A significant portion of the known victims are high-profile government and military officials spread across at least 20 countries on five continents, as per the investigating team.
WhatsApp filed a lawsuit against Israeli hacking tool developer NSO Group. The messaging giant believes and alleges that NSO Group built and sold a hacking platform that exploited a flaw in WhatsApp-owned servers to help clients hack into the cell phones of at least 1,400 users.
While it is not clear who used the software to hack officials' phones, NSO says it sells its spyware exclusively to government customers.
Some victims are in the United States, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Mexico, Pakistan and India. It could not be verified whether victims from these countries included government officials.
NSO has denied any wrongdoing, saying its products are only meant to help governments catch terrorists and criminals. It was also not available to give any comments.
Over the last several years, cybersecurity researchers have found NSO products used against a wide range of targets, including protesters in countries under authoritarian rule. The use of these tools to target high-profile politicians, however, is less understood.
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