WhatsApp has notified around 200 users, primarily in Italy, who were tricked into installing a malicious fake version of its iPhone app. The company accused Italian spyware maker SIO of creating this fake app. WhatsApp proactively identified the affected users, logged them out, and alerted them to the privacy risks, urging them to install the official app. The company plans to send a legal demand to SIO to stop this activity. This follows last year’s revelation that SIO was behind similar malicious Android apps containing its Spyrtacus spyware. Using fake apps is a known surveillance tactic in Italy, often involving collaboration from cellphone providers. WhatsApp’s announcement comes a year after it alerted around 90 users, including journalists and activists, that they were targeted by spyware from another firm, Paragon Solutions, which later cut ties with Italian agencies.
