New Delhi: After Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday held WhatsApp responsible for letting Pegasus spyware enter the devices of a number of Indian journalists and activists and gave the Facebook-owned company a timeline to respond to its queries, the messenger service said on Thursday that it had informed the Indian government about the breach in May this year itself.
This comes after the Central government claimed that WhatsApp had not disclosed the Pegasus incident to relevant authorities in several rounds of discussions held since June this year. Moreover, the NSO Group, which created Pegasus had already made a statement saying that it sells the spyware only to government agencies across the world.
WhatsApp said that it had detected the security breach affecting several of its users and had resolved the issue on their part in May, subsequently informing all relevant government authorities, including the Indian government. "In May we quickly resolved a security issue and notified relevant Indian and international government authorities," the chatting app said.
This latest disclosure from the social media company came after Prasad in a statement on Thursday said that Indian authorities have asked WhatsApp to explain how such a breach could occur.
Following the revelation that several Indian citizens were targeted in the attack, the government insisted on holding WhatsApp accountable, with the authorities here asking the messaging app as to what it is doing to protect the privacy of Indian citizens.
While some government sources have admitted that WhatsApp had given information to CERT-IN, a government agency in May, they have maintained that it was only about a technical vulnerability and that there was no mention of Pegasus and "nothing
on the fact that privacy of Indian users had been compromised".
The California-based company also clarified that they are the ones suing the NSO Group, the creator of Pegasus in a US court, in an attempt to hold the Israeli tech company accountable for its actions. It also said that since May, it has
worked to identify the targeted users.
Amid an uproar over allegations of an Israeli software being used to spy over activists and journalists, WhatsApp on Friday said it has taken a "strong action" in the incident and supports the Indian government's stand on the need to safeguard the privacy of all citizens.
On Thursday, the Facebook-owned company had said Indian journalists and human rights activists were among those globally spied upon by unnamed entities using an Israeli spyware Pegasus, leading to a furore over breach of citizens' privacy.
Following the disclosure by WhatsApp, the Indian government has asked the messaging platform to explain the matter and list out the measures that have been taken by it to safeguard the privacy of millions of Indians.
According to sources, the company has been asked to submit its response by November 4. It has received the government's queries and said it will respond to them.