Top officials around the world were targeted in phone hacks through WhatsApp by governments using Israeli NSO Group spyware, the messaging app's chief executive has revealed.
More than 1,400 WhatsApp users - including government officials and military officers in 20 'US-allied countries' - were targeted in a 2019 attack, according to Will Cathcart.
The revelation comes after details emerged last week of how the Israeli surveillance firm NSO was selling its 'Pegasus' software to government clients worldwide.
The software allows its users to exploit a person's phone and use it to access contacts, messages and even turn on the microphone to snoop on conversations.
The leak revealed how senior government officials, including French president Emmanuel Macron, as well as journalists, lawyers and activists were selected as candidates for possible surveillance through the NSO software.
And Mr Cathcart says he has seen parallels between the latest leak - exposed by a group of media organisations under the name 'the Pegasus project'- and the 2019 attack against WhatsApp users.
He said senior government officials, journalists and human rights activists were targeted in the 2019 attack - similar to what has been reported in the recent Pegasus leak.
Mr Cathcart, head of the Facebook-owned messaging service, told the Guardian: 'The reporting (in the Pegasus leak) matches what we saw in the attack we defeated two years ago, it is very consistent with what we were loud about then.'
More than 1,400 WhatsApp users - including government officials and military officers in 20 'US-allied countries' - were targeted in the 2019 attack, according to Will Cathcart (pictured)
NSO targeted WhatsApp users through its video call function. They did not have to pick up the phone in order to be exploited. Above is an example that was shared by Citizen Lab, the research company it partnered with to produce a report on the May 2019 breach
WhatsApp is suing the Israeli spyware firm NSO claiming it should be permanently blocked. They allege NSO sold a hacking platform that exploited a flaw in WhatsApp-owned servers to help clients hack into the cellphones of at least 1,400 users
He also revealed that many of the WhatsApp users targeted in the 2019 attack had 'no business being under surveillance in any way, shape, or form', adding: 'This should be a wake up call for security on the internet … mobile phones are either safe for everyone or they are not safe for everyone.'
His comments come after it was revealed how French president Macron's phone number was among potential targets of a huge international spying operation.
The French president is among 50,000 politicians, journalists and human rights activists around the world said to have been identified as 'people of interest' by clients of Israeli firm NSO.
His comments come after it was revealed how French president Emmanuel Macron's (pictured) phone number was among potential targets of a huge international spying operation
The Paris prosecutor's office is investigating suspected widespread use of its Pegasus spyware and an official in the president's office said: 'If this is proven, it is clearly very serious.'
Investigator Laurent Richard said on French TV earlier this week: 'We found these numbers but we obviously couldn't do a technical analysis of Emmanuel Macron's phone to determine if it had been infected with a spying device.'
Other leaders on the list that emerged include South African president Cyril Ramaphosa and World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
President Imran Khan of Pakistan was also among potential targets found on a list of numbers leaked to Amnesty and the Paris-based journalism nonprofit Forbidden Stories.
Targets also included
