By Justin Ware . Published at May 15, 2019, in Features If you’re one of the 1.5 billion people that use WhatsApp, you may have a problem. That’s the advice from the Facebook owned platform, which is in damage control after a serious weakness in the app was discovered. Israeli cyber intelligence firm, NSO Group, is accused of being the mastermind behind spyware that can gain access to the ‘encrypted’ app without user permission. NSO has denied this accusation. Whoever is behind the attack, it's not fantastic for users. The vulnerability allows hackers to discretely install spyware through an infected call on the app, which affects all devices and operating systems. The malicious program is capable of trawling through call and text/message history and can activate the device camera and microphone at will. To make matters worse, such activity isn’t reflected in activity logs, meaning users have no idea if or when they have been compromised. However, if you haven’t received any mysterious WhatsApp voice calls from unknown parties, you are likely in the clear. It’s yet another blow to the concept of privacy in today’s world. If the world’s most ‘secure’ social media platform is so easily exploited, where is our information safe? The number of users affected is unknown, but several victims, including a high profile UK-based human rights lawyer, have been embroiled in the breach. What should you do? Facebook has deployed a server-side update to help protect users against the spyware, but users are strongly advised to manually check for updates via Google Play or the App Store. Aside from checking for updates, users can take the following steps. Disable backups By now you’re likely familiar with end-to-end encryption – a proven form of secure communication that nullifies third parties from accessing data while it’s being transmitted between devices. The catch however, is that if you opt to backup WhatsApp via Google drive or iCloud, you aren’t protected by end-to-end encryption. Yes, that’s right, anyone with access to your cloud accounts can get hold of your entire WhatsApp activity log. It may be worth disabling cloud backups. Enable 2FA Another step users can take is enabling two-factor authentication (2FA). It may seem simple, but it’s another layer of protection to ensure people who attempt to gain access to your account are legitimate. To toggle your security settings on WhatsApp, go to settings > account > privacy. If all else fails, you can always delete the app from your device and wait it out.<doc-sep>Dado Ruvic, Reuters | A man poses with a smartphone in front of a displayed Whatsapp logo in this illustration. Spyware crafted by an “advanced cyber actor” infected multiple targeted mobile phones through the popular WhatsApp communications program without any user intervention through in-app voice calls, the company said. Advertising Read more WhatsApp, which is used by 1.5 billion people worldwide, discovered in early May that attackers were able to install surveillance software on to both iPhones and Android phones by ringing up targets using the app’s phone call function. The Financial Times identified the perpetrator as Israel’s NSO Group, and a WhatsApp spokesman later said “we’re certainly not refuting any of the coverage you’ve seen.” The malware was able to penetrate phones through missed calls alone via the app’s voice calling function, the spokesman for the Facebook subsidiary said late on Monday. An unknown number of people an amount in the dozens at least would not be inaccurate were infected with the malware, said the spokesman, who was not authorized to be quoted by name. Cybersecurity expert Jackson Webster : ‘Update your app’ 'Very scary vulnerability' John Scott-Railton, a researcher with the Internet watchdog Citizen Lab, called the hack “a very scary vulnerability”. “There’s nothing a user could have done here, short of not having the app,” he said. The WhatsApp spokesman said the attack had “all the hallmarks of a private company that has been known to work with governments to deliver spyware that has the ability to take over mobile phone operating systems". The spokesman said WhatsApp, which has more than 1.5 billion users, immediately contacted Citizen Lab and human rights groups, quickly fixed the issue and pushed out a patch. He said WhatsApp also provided information to US law enforcement officials to assist in their investigation. He said the flaw was discovered while “our team was putting some additional security enhancements to our voice calls” and that engineers found that people targeted for infection “might get one or two calls from a number that is not familiar to them. In the process of calling, this code gets shipped". “We are deeply concerned about the abuse of such capabilities,” WhatsApp said in a statement. Spokespeople for NSO Group did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment. Powerful Israeli spyware The revelation adds to the questions over the reach of the Israeli company’s powerful spyware, which can hijack smartphones, control their cameras and effectively turn them into pocket-sized surveillance devices. NSO’s spyware has repeatedly been found deployed to hack journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders and dissidents. Most notably, the spyware was implicated in the gruesome killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year and whose body has never been found. Several alleged targets of the spyware, including a close friend of Khashoggi and several Mexican civil society figures, are currently suing NSO in an Israeli court over the hacking. On Monday, Amnesty International - which said last year that one its staffers was also targeted with the spyware - said it would join in a legal bid to force Israel’s Ministry of Defence to suspend NSO’s export license. This makes the discovery of the vulnerability particularly disturbing because one of the targets was a UK-based human rights lawyer, the attorney told the AP. The lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity for professional reasons, said he received about several suspicious missed calls over the past few months, the most recent one on Sunday, only hours before WhatsApp issued the update to users fixing the flaw. (FRANCE 24 with AP) Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe<doc-sep>"Under no circumstances would NSO be involved in the operating or identifying of targets of its technology, which is solely operated by intelligence and law enforcement agencies. NSO would not or could not use its technology in its own right to target any person or organisation."<doc-sep>Watch these UK commandos fly over the sea with new jet pack Energy regulator: Pipelines are at the forefront of our national defenses It's a boat? It's a plane? No, it's a 'seaglider.' And it goes fast...really fast Boston-based REGENT's "seaglider" is a mix between a boat and an aircraft with a top speed of 180 mph. NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 16: SVP and Director at IBM Research Arvind Krishna speaks on stage during the 2016 Wired Business Conference on June 16, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Brian Ach/Getty Images for Wired) Viral 'Charlie bit my finger' video to be taken down. Here's why Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, center, gives his opening remarks flanked by local state delegation members prior to signing legislation that seeks to punish social media platforms that remove conservative ideas from their sites, inside Florida International University's MARC building in Miami on Monday, May 24, 2021. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP) Social media stock. Stock photo of the WhatsApp app icon on a smartphone. Picture date: Friday March 15, 2019. See PA story TECHNOLOGY SocialMedia. Photo credit should read: Nick Ansell/PA Wire URN:41898780 (Press Association via AP Images) (CNN Business) — WhatsApp has revealed a vulnerability in its system that could have allowed hackers access to its users’ phones, with a London-based human rights lawyer possibly among the targets. The encrypted messaging service, owned by Facebook (FB), said Monday that it had discovered and fixed the vulnerability the attackers had sought to exploit. The hackers could implant malicious code on a victim’s phone by placing a voice call to the victim on WhatsApp — victims may not even have needed to answer the call for their phone to be infected, an expert told CNN Business. “The attack has all the hallmarks of a private company reportedly that works with governments to deliver spyware that takes over the functions of mobile phone operating systems,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement. While WhatsApp did not name the private company, a source familiar with the investigation into the attack said that company is NSO Group, an Israeli cyber company that has developed a powerful piece of malware designed to spy on its victims. In a statement provided to CNN on Monday, NSO said, “Under no circumstances would NSO be involved in the operating or identifying of targets of its technology, which is solely operated by intelligence and law enforcement agencies.” NSO said its technology was licensed to government agencies “for the sole purpose of fighting crime and terror,” adding that those agencies determine how the technology is used without any involvement from the company. The Financial Times first reported details of the vulnerability. Human rights activists targeted Among those believed to have been targeted via WhatsApp is a London-based human rights lawyer, who is advising on a case against NSO. NSO has denied targeting the lawyer. On Sunday, the lawyer received two calls that John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab believes were part of the attack. Citizen Lab is an academic security research group that investigates digital threats to civil society groups and online freedom of expression. The apparent attempt to breach the lawyer’s phone was not successful, Scott-Railton said, as WhatsApp had patched the vulnerability by Sunday. Speaking to CNN Business on Tuesday the lawyer, who does not want to be named, said that in March they began receiving suspicious calls on WhatsApp from Swedish and other European phone numbers. WhatsApp had reached out to Citizen Lab and a number of other groups that work with human rights defenders before publicly acknowledging the attack. The collaboration between WhatsApp and Citizen Lab helped identify the attempted attack on the London-based lawyer. Responding specifically to the apparent targeting of the lawyer, NSO Group said in a statement, “NSO would not or could not use its technology in its own right to target any person or organization, including this individual.” “This is a vulnerability that would have enabled attackers to take over a phone with a missed call,” Scott-Railton said. In another development before the attack was revealed, Amnesty International announced it would file a petition at the district court of Tel Aviv on Tuesday demanding Israel withdraw NSO’s export license, Amnesty’s lawyer told CNN Business. The group claims that NSO software “threatens the rights to privacy and to freedom of opinion and expression, in breach of Israel’s obligations under international human rights law.” It said one of its researchers had been targeted via a WhatsApp message containing NSO’s spying software in 2018 while working on a campaign to release six women’s rights activists detained in Saudi Arabia. How to update your WhatsApp WhatsApp said while it has fixed the vulnerability the attackers were exploiting, it is also encouraging users to update to the latest version of the WhatsApp app “out of an abundance of caution.” The company said it has also contacted US law enforcement. On Monday night, the Democratic National Committee advised 2020 Democratic presidential campaign staff who use WhatsApp to update their apps to the most recent version of the service, a source familiar with the warning told CNN Business. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, which supervises Facebook’s activities in Europe, said it had been informed of the vulnerability on Monday, adding it was unclear at this stage whether any EU user data had been affected. Still, it too urged users to ensure the update WhatsApp on their devices. Here’s how: On an iPhone – Open the App Store and select updates. – Select “WhatsApp” and Update. On an Android device – Open the Play Store and tap on the 3 lines in the upper left corner. – Select “My apps & games” from the menu. – Select “WhatsApp” and select Update. Hadas Gold contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
WhatsApp has rushed to roll out a security fix after confirming the messaging service was hacked. The app reacted after concerns were raised hackers could inject surveillance software on to phones via the call function. They discovered a vulnerability that allowed attackers to install malicious code on iPhones and Android phones by ringing up a target device. The code could be transmitted even if users did not answer their phones and a log of the call often disappeared, the Financial Times reported. The company, which is owned by Facebook, said the attack bore a resemblance to spyware developed for intelligence agencies. There are concerns that the software was used in attempts to access the phones of human rights campaigners, including a UK-based lawyer. "We believe a select number of users were targeted through this vulnerability by an advanced cyber actor," WhatsApp told the FT. "This attack has all the hallmarks of a private company known to work with governments to deliver spyware that reportedly takes over the functions of mobile phone operating systems. "We have briefed a number of human rights organisations to share the information we can, and to work with them to notify civil society." The firm is said to have alerted officials at the US Department of Justice after discovering the vulnerability in early May. WhatsApp claims to have 1.5 billion users around the world and it released a software update on Monday. According to the Financial Times, the spyware was developed by NSO Group, an Israeli cybersecurity and intelligence company. The company told the paper: "Under no circumstances would NSO be involved in the operating or identifying of targets of its technology, which is solely operated by intelligence and law enforcement agencies. "NSO would not, or could not, use its technology in its own right to target any person or organisation, including this individual (the UK lawyer)." The vulnerability and suspected attacks have been investigated by Citizen Lab, a research group at the University of Toronto. "We believe an attacker tried (and was blocked by WhatsApp) to exploit it as recently as yesterday to target a human rights lawyer," the lab said. On Monday, Amnesty International said it was backing legal action against the Israeli Ministry of Defence demanding that it revokes NSO Group's export licence. Danna Ingleton, deputy director of Amnesty Tech, said: "NSO Group sells its products to governments who are known for outrageous human rights abuses, giving them the tools to track activists and critics."