The popular app WhatsApp is being infiltrated by Israeli virtual intelligence, listening to phone conversations and watching the user’s movements all the time through the camera.
Spyware called Graphite captures everything from text messages to voice calls and images. Recently, the Meta-owned app WhatsApp has accused Israeli company Paragon Solutions of stealing the information of 120 users.
The main target of hacking in the guise of group chats and PDF files is journalists and civil society members. After the news was published in influential international media such as The Guardian, Reuters, and Al Jazeera, the secret activities of information terrorism came to the fore again.
A special type of program used for intelligence surveillance is called spyware. Among the common hacking software, Pegasus was at the top of the discussion. A powerful program like Pegasus, created by Israel’s NSO Group, which caused a worldwide stir, Paragon’s Graphite can hack any type of smartphone using iOS or Android.
The user does not even know when they have lost control of the phone. There is no need to click on a phishing link to hack the phone. It is installed remotely using a zero-click method. This eavesdropping weapon is not safe from encrypted apps like WhatsApp Signal. Paragon Solutions, founded by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, was recently acquired by a US private firm for $900 million.
WhatsApp has sent Paragon KC Sandy Slater to investigate the hacking allegations this time. Although the possible attack was detected in December 2024, there is no confirmed information yet on how long the accounts of the targeted individuals were at risk.
WhatsApp has refused to say which country the users under surveillance are from or whether their accounts were hacked for any specific reason. Many security analysts consider the Israeli government’s direct involvement in such surveillance programs, such as the Israeli Ministry of Defense, which oversees cyberweapons like Graphite Pegasus, to be state-sponsored information terrorism.
Paragon’s customer list includes the governments of 35 countries, including Greece, Poland, Hungary, Mexico, and India. Like other spyware, state intelligence agencies usually use this cyber weapon to hack the phones of opposition party leaders, journalists, industrialists, lawyers, and people from various professions.
WhatsApp has been seen to be vocal about the theft of user information before. It had filed a lawsuit against NSO, the owner of the infamous spyware Pegasus, alleging that nearly fourteen hundred user accounts had been compromised. They ruled in favor of WhatsApp in December 2024.
Earlier, after an investigative report published by the international media outlet The Guardian, the name Vegas came into the spotlight worldwide. This time, Paragon’s Graphite program is proving to have almost the same activities.
Israel is becoming a formidable power in the world of information warfare Technology analysts say that if you are not personally careful, a terrible danger awaits smartphone users. Hafizul Islam is a Bengali poet.
