Last week, WhatsApp users worldwide were surprised by the news that Facebook is planning to sue an Israel based agency named NSO Group for snooping over 1400 users through Pegasus spyware and WhatsApp application.
Going by the details, the social media giant confirmed that a survey conducted by one of its associate company has discovered that NSO Group tried to exploit the video calling feature on WhatsApp by sending a malware named Pegasus Spyware in the phones of the said photo and video sharing application users.
However, the company facing the allegation says that its technology is not designed or licensed to be used in espionage-related activities and is solely used for white hat purposes by government agencies.
WhatsApp has issued a news update yesterday on the issue and said that users of its online messaging service can keep their smartphones safe from hackers by using the latest version of WhatsApp on their device and keeping their mobile operating system up to date to receive the latest security protective cover.
Note 1- Usually hackers gain remote access to a device by installing a Trojan horse or spyware. And in some cases, users download an application from an unknown source and invite trouble.
So security analysts from Cisco Talos are urging users to disable downloads from unknown sources in their android smartphone security settings. As this will make the phone pop up an alert whenever a download is being made from an unknown source.
And lastly, users should make it a point to use a smartphone that has the latest hardware and software( operating system) in it to avoid any kind of Cybersecurity troubles.
Note 2- Last Tuesday, Facebook released a press statement saying that it is going to sue NSO Group for $75,000 damages as it has found evidence that the agency was spying over 1400 Whatsapp users located in 20 countries by installing Pegasus spyware- mostly journalists and human rights activists.
