WhatsApp Says Journalists and Civil Society Members Were Targets of Israeli Spyware

Nearly 100 journalists and other members of civil society using WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by Meta, were targeted by spyware owned by Paragon, an Israeli maker of hacking software, the company alleged today. From a report: The journalists and other civil society members were being alerted of a possible breach of their devices, with WhatsApp telling the Guardian it had "high confidence" that the users in question had been targeted and "possibly compromised."

The company declined to disclose where the journalists and members of civil society were based, including whether they were based in the US. The company said it had sent Paragon a "cease and desist" letter and that it was exploring its legal options. WhatsApp said the alleged attacks had been disrupted in December and that it was not clear how long the targets may have been under threat.

Not possible

[50000BTU_barbecue]

It's the only democracy in the Middle East. Democracies don't do that, surely?

Re:

[Galactic Dominator]

Asking me to believe that is like asking me to believe they'd harvest corpses from an apartheid they themselves created.

Re: Not possible

[saloomy]

It absolutely blows my mind how I can read all of the comments in this thread, openly acknowledging all the evil shit Israel does, and we all know they have either bribed, bought, or blackmailed our political leaders who are strait up shipping Israel dollars by the billions for free, for nothing. We give them a "qualitative military edge" which they use to damn our morals and manipulate our population. They spit on christians and genocide muslims, believe Jesus is burning in hell in human excrement, that Mary was whore, and that all non-jewish humans are Goyim, at the same sanctity of a chicken. I could go on and on. They mutilate infant boys' penises and then suck on them with their mouths. The number of Herpes infections from Rabbis to babies is non-zero. I mean that alone should be an imprisonable offense.

But the worst part is it feels like they are basically above the law. Any time we criticize these insane practices by Israelis, the label anti-semetic gets cast. I will be honest, it feels like that is losing its effect. The only ones who seem to care anymore about that label are politicians (for political expediency) and journalists (who provide lip service to Israel at all times. Never mind the fact that a semite is one who speaks a Semitic language, and all speakers of Arabic qualify. This ethno-religion needs to go.

Re: Not possible

[drinkypoo]

All religions need to go. All of the popular ones have done terrible things and all of the unpopular ones are just waiting their turns.

Re:

[gosso920]

Those journalists should stop using WhatsApp and rely on pagers instead. What could possibly go wrong?

Re:

[BeepBoopBeep]

Right, they dumb, should just resort to pen/paper/flying pigeons to communicate. Maybe even snail mail if they want faster delivery. Wait, can you hack an analog fax machine?

Re:

[joe_frisch]

The pigeons will somehow get infected with bird flu

THIS SIDE TOWARD EVERYONE

[Pseudonymous Powers]

Yeah, we're talking about a government who doesn't recognize orphans currently on breathing machines in the ICU as noncombatants. Why would they blink at bugging journalists or civilians?

Orly?

[CEC-P]

So we talking "you said things the gov doesn't like" type of situations or "journalists" that are just Islamic propagandists covering for putting mortar sites in hospitals. There's a BIG difference and the article and WhatsApp do not specify.

Johnathan Pollard ...

[PPH]

... was just ahead of his time.

Whatsapp can get you killed

[echo123]

This has also happened a few years ago. Just ask Jamal Kashoggi [wikipedia.org]. Seriously folks, use Signal [wired.com].

Jamal Khashoggi’s private WhatsApp messages may offer new clues to killing [cnn.com]

Re:

[ihavesaxwithcollies]

Khashoggi was Saudi Arabia, not Israel.

The Saudi's bribed Kushner and trump's daughter for looking the other way on the killings. [nytimes.com]

trump looked the other way on the killing of an American journalist. [nytimes.com]

Mr. Kushner played a leading role inside the Trump administration defending Crown Prince Mohammed after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that he had approved the 2018 killing and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for The Washington Post and resident of Virginia who had criticized the kingdom’s rulers.

Re:Whatsapp can get you killed

[ArchieBunker]

The thing I want to know about Hunter Biden's laptop is why the Saudis gave Jared Kushner $2 billion. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/j... [cbsnews.com]

Re:Whatsapp can get you killed

[echo123]

Khashoggi was Saudi Arabia, not Israel.

Jamal Khashoggi was killed with the help of software from the Israeli firm named NSO Group.