In 2015, 1,200 users, including government officials, were targeted

Washington, Dt

The 1,200 WhatsApp users attacked by governments around the world from the NSO group's spyware Pegasus in 2012 include senior national security officials, said Will Cathcart, CEO of the messaging app WhatsApp. WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart released new details about the victims of the Pegasus software attack this week after it was revealed that more than 50,000 people had been spied on under the Pegasus project.

There are similarities between the attacks on WhatsApp users in 2016 and the leaked data at the heart of the Pegasus project, said WhatsApp CEO Cathcart. The company has filed a case against NSO after it was revealed in 2014 that NSO's spy software Pegasus had targeted WhatsApp users.

When WhatsApp announced two years ago that its users had been attacked by NSO malware, the messaging app said that approximately 100 of the 1,200 targeted users were from civil society, including journalists, human rights activists and activists. The attack on the users was due to a security flaw in the messaging app, which was later corrected.

"The first thing I want to say is that this reporting bears a resemblance to an attack we defeated two years ago and proves to be absolutely true what we said," Cathcart said. He further said that the attack on WhatsApp users was an attempt by NSO group to target people's phones through our service. This was clearly an attempted attack and in that list we saw journalists, human rights activists, government officials and others from around the world.

The NSO group has dismissed media reports that more than 50,000 people have been targeted in the Pegasus controversy, saying the figures are exaggerated. However, the CEO of WhatsApp said that the Pegasus controversy is like a warning to all people about the safety of Internet mobile phones. If 1,200 people could be targeted in just two weeks, that number could be higher in the long run. He said he had discussed the attack against WhatsApp users with governments around the world. He praised Microsoft and other companies in the IT industry for speaking out on the dangers of malware. He raised questions against Apple on the issue.