Skip to content
Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Primary Menu Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us
  • Featured
  • Politics & Society

India Asks WhatsApp To Explain Privacy Breach

Nov 2, 2019 | Pratirodh Bureau

WhatsApp, in its affidavit in a US court has said that Israeli company NSO hacked phones of people including many in India

India, WhatsApp’s biggest market with 400 million users, has asked the Facebook-owned company to explain the nature of a privacy breach on its messaging platform that has affected some users, Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

“We have asked WhatsApp to explain the kind of breach and what it is doing to safeguard the privacy of millions of Indian citizens,” Prasad said in a tweet on Thursday.

The surveillance revelations come after the messaging platform sued Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group on Tuesday, accusing it of helping government spies break into the phones of roughly 1,400 users across four continents including diplomats, political dissidents, journalists and government officials. NSO denied the allegations.

In its lawsuit filed in a federal court in San Francisco, WhatsApp accused NSO of facilitating government hacking sprees in 20 countries, calling it “an unmistakable pattern of abuse.”

The attack, according to WhatsApp, exploited its video calling system in order to send malware to the mobile devices of a number of users. The malware would allow NSO’s clients – said to be governments and intelligence organisations – to secretly spy on a phone’s owner, opening their digital lives up to scrutiny.

People familiar with WhatsApp’s investigation told Reuters that a significant number of Indian civil society figures were put under surveillance using the Israeli spyware.

The company has not identified anyone by name, users including Indian lawyers, academics, Dalit rights activists and journalists have come forward to say they received warnings from WhatsApp that they were the targets of espionage.

WhatsApp said Indian users were among those contacted by it this week.

WhatsApp declined to comment on Prasad’s tweet, but referred to a previous statement from the company which said it believes people have the fundamental right to privacy and no one else should have access to their private conversations.

Sidhant Sibal, a New Delhi-based journalist, told Reuters the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab – which investigates digital espionage among other research projects – called him about a month ago, informing him that his WhatsApp account was one of several under surveillance.

He received a text message from WhatsApp this week saying it cared about “your privacy and security”.

“In May we stopped an attack where an advanced cyber actor exploited our video calling to install malware on user devices,” the company said, explaining why it was writing to Sibal and other affected users like him.

“There’s a possibility this phone number was impacted, and we want to make sure you know how to keep your mobile phone secure,” he said.

Citizen Lab in a post on its website dated Oct. 29 said it was helping WhatsApp investigate the incident and would continue to contact affected individuals to help protect their security.

Last year, the Indian government began pushing the Cupertino, California-based company to trace the origin of some messages, saying the platform was being used to spread misinformation.

WhatsApp has always maintained it will not take such steps, which would require it to weaken encryption and other privacy protections.

Globally, the platform is used by some 1.5 billion people monthly and has often touted a high level of security, including end-to-end encrypted messages that cannot be deciphered by WhatsApp or other third parties.

Tags: academics, Dalit rights activists, diplomats, government officials, india, Indian lawyers, Israel, journalists, malware, NSO Group, political dissidents, San Francisco, Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, whatsapp

Continue Reading

Previous Softening Demand Drags Indian Factory Growth To Two-Year Low In October — PMI
Next Kashmiris’ Situation Is Unsustainable, Angela Merkel Says

More Stories

  • Featured

Cong Flags Concerns As India & US Negotiate Trade Deal

8 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Climate Conversations Need To Embrace India’s LGBTQ+ Communities

10 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Why Wetlands Hold Carbon & Climate Hope

10 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • Cong Flags Concerns As India & US Negotiate Trade Deal
  • Climate Conversations Need To Embrace India’s LGBTQ+ Communities
  • Why Wetlands Hold Carbon & Climate Hope
  • ‘BJP Attempting To Omit Secularism, Socialism From Constitution’
  • Redevelopment Plan In Dharavi Sparks Fear Of Displacement, Toxic Relocation
  • Why Uncertain Years Lie Ahead For Tibet
  • ‘PM Can Now Review Why Pahalgam Terrorists Not Brought To Justice’
  • India’s Forest Communities Hold The Climate Solutions We Overlook
  • From Concrete To Canopy: The Grey-To-Green Shift Urban India Urgently Needs
  • “Trade Unions’ Strike Is Opposing Modi Govt’s ‘Anti-Worker, Anti-Farmer’ Policies”
  • A New Book On Why ‘Active Nonalignment’ Is On The March
  • Reporting On A Changing Agricultural Outlook
  • Oppn Has Faith In SC, United On Bihar Electoral Rolls Issue: Congress
  • How Social Media Design Can Either Support Or Undermine Democracy
  • The Rise Of India’s Moringa Economy
  • Covid ‘Sudden Deaths’ Have Not Increased Due To Vaccines: ICMR Study
  • Gas Leak In Assam Oil Rig Under Control But Has Affected Hundreds
  • Burned Out: Privatised Risk Is Failing Victims Of Climate Disasters
  • Maharashtra: Rahul Gandhi Attacks Modi Govt Over Farmer Suicides
  • From Bonn To Belém, Global Climate Talks Inch Forward Amid Deep Divides

Search

Main Links

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us

Related Stroy

  • Featured

Cong Flags Concerns As India & US Negotiate Trade Deal

8 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Climate Conversations Need To Embrace India’s LGBTQ+ Communities

10 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Why Wetlands Hold Carbon & Climate Hope

10 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

‘BJP Attempting To Omit Secularism, Socialism From Constitution’

3 days ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Redevelopment Plan In Dharavi Sparks Fear Of Displacement, Toxic Relocation

4 days ago Shalini

Recent Posts

  • Cong Flags Concerns As India & US Negotiate Trade Deal
  • Climate Conversations Need To Embrace India’s LGBTQ+ Communities
  • Why Wetlands Hold Carbon & Climate Hope
  • ‘BJP Attempting To Omit Secularism, Socialism From Constitution’
  • Redevelopment Plan In Dharavi Sparks Fear Of Displacement, Toxic Relocation
Copyright © All rights reserved. | CoverNews by AF themes.