HYDERABAD: Ravindranath Balla, the Hyderabad-based lawyer-cum-activist who was targeted in the WhatsApp spying fiasco, along with other victims, penned a letter to the Central government urging it to come clean in the matter.
“The knowledge that we have all been under surveillance by an unknown entity and that our personal conversations, financial transactions etc. were being spied upon is deeply disturbing. This violates our fundamental right of privacy,” the letter read. They added, “As affected persons and concerned citizens, we appeal to the Government of India to reveal whatever information it has about this cyber attack.”
Balla and the other victims said that an attempt was made to send spyware to their smartphones through the WhatsApp video calling service. WhatsApp attributed the attack to malicious spyware called Pegasus, the flagship product of the Israeli based NSO Group and its parent company Q Cyber Technologies. The spyware is amongst the most sophisticated available on the market.