In May 2019 we stopped a highly sophisticated cyber attack that our video calling system in order to send malware to the mobile devices of a number of WhatsApp users. The nature of the attack did not require targeted users to answer the calls they received. We quickly added new protections to our systems and issued an update to WhatsApp to help keep people safe. We are now taking additional action, based on what we have learned to date.
We sent a special WhatsApp message to approximately 1,400 users that we have reason to believe were impacted by this attack to directly inform them about w ecurity experts at , an academic research group based at the University of Toronto’s Munk School, volunteered to help us to learn more about the impact of this attack on civil society, including journ Citizen Lab has published information related to this specific attack and remains available to provide support to this community.
WhatsApp cares deeply about the privacy and security of our users. Some of your most personal moments are shared on WhatsApp, which is why we provide end-to-end encryption for all messages and calls by default. This attack was developed to access messages after they were decrypted on an infected device, abu bile phones.
We agree with UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression for a moratorium not used to violate individual rights and freedoms people deserve wherever they are in the world. Human rights groups have org/en/latest/news/2019/10/moroccan-human-rights-defenders-targeted-using-malicious-nso-israeli-spyware/" dir="ltr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documented a disturbing trend
that such tools have been used to attack journalists and human rights defenders. Working with research experts at