WhatsApp sued Israeli spyware for stealing Indian journalists and Human Right Activist data.

WhatsApp has confirmed that Israel based spyware tech company has stolen Indian Journalists and Human Rights Activist. The latest disclosure by WhatsApp comes after the company announced earlier this week that it was suing NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance firm that is reportedly behind the technology that helped government spies to hack into phones of roughly 1,400 users.

These users span across four continents and included diplomats, political dissidents, journalists, and senior government officials.

Ministry of Information and Technology has sent an application asking WhatsApp to reveal the name and information of the people traced by Israeli spyware.

“Indian journalists and human rights activists have been the target of surveillance and while I cannot reveal their identities and the exact number, I can say that it is not an insignificant number,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said.

The spyware requires to click on the exploited link, which then allows the spyware to penetrate into the security features of the device and auto-installs the pegasus app on the user device. This pegasus app then has access to user private information like chats, passwords, contact lists, text messages, and calendar events.

While IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad says this: Government of India is concerned at the breach of privacy of citizens of India on the messaging platform Whatsapp. We have asked Whatsapp to explain the kind of breach and what it is doing to safeguard the privacy of millions of Indian citizens.