Acting on the recent spyware attack on Whatsapp, the Indian Government is now seeking details from the Facebook owned IM app on the same. The attack, discovered a few days back, led to attackers gaining access to sensitive user device information, through a loophole found in the Whatsapp calling function.
Reported by Financial Times earlier this week, the spyware was reportedly developed by an Israeli cyber intelligence group. The spyware exploited a vulnerability in the WhatsApp calling function to inject a spyware into a user’s phone, thus putting all information on the device at risk.
Since then, Whatsapp has issued advisory to its users, to update to the latest version of its app in order to avoid being infected by the said spyware. When asked about the attack, Whatsapp replied in an emailed statement, “These are highly sophisticated attacks. It’s early in our investigation and don’t have numbers to share, though this is (about) a relatively small number of people.”
The company added that the weakness was discovered this month and that it had addressed the problem through its own infrastructure. It said it had informed US law enforcement agencies to the exploit and published a “CVE notice”, an advisory on common vulnerabilities and exposures to alert cybersecurity experts.
