WhatsApp HACKED by 'cyber warfare' group funded by billionaire Facebook investor – update your app now
A SECRETIVE US firm funded by a billionaire Facebook investor was once allegedly able to hack WhatsApp.
The odd connection involves well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Thiel, who became the social network's first outside investor in 2004.
Thiel made it big as one of the co-founders of PayPal and has gone on to invest in multiple companies.
One big part of that is his Founders Fund firm, which is reportedly a major backer of Boldend.
Boldend, according to the New York Times, quietly told defence giant Raytheon it could hack WhatsApp in January 2021.
Fortunately, the loophole was cut off sometime after in a software update.
The tale is ironic because Facebook's parent company Meta also owns WhatsApp, meaning Thiel would have effectively been paying for a firm to hack products made by another he is involved with.
Boldend is hush-hush about its business because it only has one major customer, the US Government.
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But its alleged activities suggest it wants to yield power on both sides of the cybersecurity space – protecting and attacking.
Close sources told Forbes that it wasn’t typical of Boldend to work on exploits like it did for WhatsApp, while one said it may have never actually been used.
It comes amid a wider report claiming the FBI covertly bought now-notorious spyware by Israeli company NSO Group, while homegrown experts have been trying to build something similar of their own.
Reports claim the US intelligence and security service explored using NSO's Pegasus software to hack Americans.
Spies apparently bought and tested it for years.
The tool has been under the spotlight for alleged misuse to hack human rights activists, journalists and dissidents.
In other news, Apple has revealed a bunch of new emoji for iPhone, including a pregnant man and two saucy symbols.
Experts have warned that future space launches could be jeopardised if "stupid" regimes like Russia don't stop blasting the skies creating debris.
And the most popular phone since the millennium has been unveiled, with many shocked to find out it's not an iPhone.
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