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WASHINGTON: Senior government officials in multiple US-allied countries, including Pakistan, were targeted earlier in 2019 with hacking software that used Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp to take over users’ phones.
According to people familiar with the messaging company’s investigation, a significant portion of the known victims is high-profile government and military officials spread across at least 20 countries on five continents. Many of the nations are US allies.
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Some victims are in the United States, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Mexico, Pakistan, and India, confirmed people familiar with the investigation.
Some Indian nationals have gone public with allegations they were among the targets over the past couple of days; they include journalists, academics, lawyers and defenders of India’s Dalit community.
The hacking of a wider group of top government officials’ smartphones than previously reported suggests the WhatsApp cyber intrusion could have broad political and diplomatic consequences.
A London-based human rights lawyer, who was among the targets, sent Reuters photographs showing attempts to break into his phone dating back to 1st April.
While it is not clear who used the software to hack officials’ phones, NSO has said it sells its spyware exclusively to government customers.
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