WhatsApp rescued a terrorist. Investigators in an unnamed Western European country lost contact with a suspected terrorist when service of Facebook's mobile messages, WhatsApp issued a warning that the device could be compromised.
A Publication of Wall Street Journal reveals that a European court has given permission for the country's authorities to monitor the mobile phone of an Islamic State member believed to be planning a terrorist attack over the holidays.
Authorities have called for Israeli help NSO Group, which sells hacking tools to governments around the world, looking for a spyware that would allow them to install a tracking application on the suspect's device.
"We only had this one phone," say the researchers. "We made these efforts to see what he would do, which mosque he would go to, where he would speak, if his group had spread to neighboring countries."
The warning was issued by WhatsApp at the end of October and had several recipients users υψηλού προφίλ, όπως δημοσιογράφοι, πολιτικοί, και άλλοι. Ανέφερε ότι υπήρχε πιθανή παραβίαση στις Appliances their.
In May we stopped an attack where a video was trying to install malware on user devices. There is a possibility that a number of phones have been affected and we want to make sure you know how to keep your mobile phone safe, the warning said.
The suspected terrorist received the warning and of course immediately turned off his phone, making the spyware useless, according to police.
Investigators said they had lost track of him after the Facebook company issued the warning, so they had no chance of arresting him or gathering more information about the planned attack.
The company WhatsApp has have already filed a lawsuit to the Israeli NSO Group for its hacks for the WhatsApp application. But the Israeli company says its products are sold only to governments and law enforcement agencies to investigate crimes.
WhatsApp of course stressed that it does not allow any kind of espionage or hacks aimed at its users.
I do not know but it seems to me quite hypocritical companies like Facebook to "talk" about the protection of their users' data.