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‘Notified govt about security issue in May’: WhatsApp on snooping row
On Thursday, WhatsApp said Indian citizens, including former Union minister Praful Patel and former Lok Sabha MP Santosh Bharatiya, were among the those globally spied upon by unnamed entities using a spyware called Pegasus, developed by Israel-based NSO Group.
WhatsApp said on Friday it had notified relevant Indian and international government authorities about the security issue in May, a day the government sought an explanation from the Facebook-owned company.
“In May we quickly resolved a security issue and notified relevant Indian and international government authorities. Since then we’ve worked to identify targeted users to ask the courts to hold the international spyware firm known as the NSO Group accountable,” said WhatsApp in a statement.
The company also said that it wanted to work with the Indian government to safeguard the privacy of its Indian users.
“We agree with the government of India; it’s critical that together we do all we can to protect users from hackers attempting to weaken security. WhatsApp remains committed to the protection of all user messages through the product we provide,” a WhatsApp spokesperson in a statement.
The spokesperson said that the company remains committed to ensuring privacy and end-to-end encryption. WhatsApp has over 1.5 billion users globally, of which India alone accounts for about 400 million.
Meanwhile, an official said the the government is concerned over WhatsApp’s failure to disclose the fact that the messaging platform had been misused to spy on around 1,400 people worldwide, including several human rights activists, lawyers and journalists and lawyers in India.
“The company did not share any information with us about the attack when it took place. If there was any information, the government could have taken steps to stop it,” said a senior information technology ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
On Thursday, WhatsApp said Indian citizens, including former Union minister Praful Patel and former Lok Sabha MP Santosh Bharatiya, were among the those globally spied upon by unnamed entities using a spyware called Pegasus, developed by Israel-based NSO Group.
“Government of India is concerned at the breach of the privacy of citizens of India on the messaging platform WhatsApp. We have asked WhatsApp to explain the kind of breach and what it is doing to safeguard the privacy of millions of Indian citizens,” IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted on Thursday.
