According to reports, almost 90 people in two dozen countries were attacked by computer pirates who used Spyware, according to WhatsApp. The victims included journalists and members of civil society, who were attacked by a piracy tool owned by Paragon Solutions, an Israeli company that specializes in piracy software.
Paragon Spyware is sold to government clients, who use it under the appearance of combating crime and protecting national security. WhatsApp confirmed that the devices of the affected users may have been compromised. WhatsApp official said Reuters He had detected an effort to hack approximately 90 users.
Zero click hack
What worries is that Paragon Spyware uses a “click zero” trick, which means that the victims did not have to click on any malicious link to infect. Experts explained that a zero click attack allows computer pirates to access the device of an objective without any interaction of the victim. This form of attack highlights the growing risks of Spyware and how users can be attacked without knowing it without any action on their part.
WhatsApp official said Reuters That users received malicious electronic documents that did not require user interaction to compromise their objectives, a so -called zero click trick that is considered particularly stealthy.
The objectives of computer pirates were journalists and civil society members
According Reuters, WhatsApp officials refused to say who, specifically, was attacked. But he said that the objectives had in their headquarters in more than two dozen countries, including several people in Europe. However, The guardian He informed that the objectives of computer pirates were journalists and members of civil society.
The official said that WhatsApp had interrupted piracy effort and was referring objectives to the Canadian Citizen Lab Internet surveillance. The official refused to discuss how he determined that Paragon was responsible for hack. He said the police and industry partners had been informed, but refused to give details. The FBI did not immediately return a message in search of comments.
Citizen Lab researcher John Scott-Rilton said that the discovery of Paragon Spyware aimed at WhatsApp users “is a reminder that the mercenary spyware continues to proliferate, and as it does, we continue to see family patterns for problematic use” .
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