Pakistan approaches WhatsApp over hacking scandal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Friday approached the WhatsApp authorities over hacking of Pakistani accounts, ARY NEWS reported.

The PTA said that it was reported that a hacking software has targeted Pakistani WhatsApp users.

“We have asked the WhatsApp authorities to share data of users whose accounts privacy was breached in a recent hacking scandal involving the messaging app,” it said adding that they have also inquired about the measures taken from the messaging app to tackle hacking issues.

It further asked the users in the country to update their WhatsApp version to avoid hacking in future and further requested those targeted in the recent hacking to approach the PTA authorities for remedy.

India has asked Facebook-owned WhatsApp to explain the nature of a privacy breach on its messaging platform that has affected some users in the country, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on October 31.

A WhatsApp spokesman was quoted by the Indian Express newspaper on Thursday as saying that Indian journalists and human rights activists were targets of surveillance by an Israeli spyware. The company said it was “not an insignificant number” of people, but did not share specifics.

WhatsApp’s comments came after the messaging platform sued Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group on Tuesday, accusing it of helping government spies break into the phones of roughly 1,400 users across four continents including diplomats, political dissidents, journalists and government officials. NSO denied the allegations.

“We have asked WhatsApp to explain the kind of breach and what it is doing to safeguard the privacy of millions of Indian citizens,” Prasad said in a tweet.