WhatsApp breach has huge privacy implications: Forcepoint

The victims of the latest WhatsApp spyware attack may have lost important personal information including location data and email content, say experts.

A bug in the Facebook-owned messaging app’s audio call feature allowed hackers to install spyware onto Android and iOS phones just by calling the target.

The spyware was reportedly developed by the Israeli cyber intelligence company NSO Group.

“The bug can be exploited based on a decades-old type of vulnerability – a buffer overflow,” Carl Leonard, Principle Security Analyst at cybersecurity company Forcepoint, said in a statement on Wednesday.