Weeks after demanding answers from WhatsApp on the alleged hacking of accounts of users, the Narendra Modi government on Wednesday admitted that the social media platform had notified it twice since May about security breaches.
The admission came from Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad in response to questions from AIMIM MPs Asaduddin Owaisi and Imtiaz Jaeel. In a written response, the minister said that on May 20, WhatsApp had reported an incident to the government's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). The incident involved a vulnerability that could "enable an attacker to insert and execute code on mobile devices". The ministry explained WhatsApp had "identified and promptly fixed” the vulnerability, which could no longer be exploited.
The government added that on September 5, WhatsApp provided an update to CERT on the incident in May. WhatsApp informed the government that it was likely that attempts were made to reach devices of around 121 users in India.
However, the government's response to the questions in Parliament claimed that the critical media coverage of the breach on WhatsApp were attempts to "malign" the government and were misleading.
also read
- 'May be false alarms': Apple clarifies after MPs allege bid to hack their phones
- Sony confirms massive data breach; personal information of thousands of employees compromised
- WhatsApp rolls out screen sharing, landscape mode for video calls
- Chinese hackers breach US ambassador's emails
- Chatlock: WhatsApp's new feature lets you hide and lock individual chats
On October 31 after news emerged of spying on WhatsApp accounts of some Indian journalists and human rights activists using an Israeli spyware, the government sought an explanation from the social media platform.
WhatsApp had said it was suing NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance firm that is reportedly behind the technology that helped unnamed entities' spies hack into phones of roughly 1,400 users spanning across four continents, including diplomats, political dissidents, journalists and senior government officials.
