Govt wants to conduct audit of WhatApp Security System after NSO espionage

The government wants to conduct an audit of WhatsApp's security systems following revelations of Israeli spyware exploiting its vulnerabilities, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said but refused to say if the government had bought the spyware.

The Indian Computer Emergency Team (CERT-In) "has clearly said that we want to audit your (WhatsApp) entire system... we have told them that we want to conduct an audit and inspection of WhatsApp's security systems and processes," Prasad said in reply to a short duration discussion in Rajya Sabha over the spying controversy.

He, however, did not give a direct reply to Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's repeated query if the government had bought Pegasus spyware from Isreali firm NSO.

To Singh's question on Home Minister having met WhatsApp officials, Prasad said WhatsApp representatives keep meeting government officials and they "may have met Home Minister as well. After all, WhatsApp has its biggest operations globally in India."
"To the best of my knowledge, no unauthorised interception has been done," Prasad said adding " If anyone is having a problem, then let them file an FIR."