The world's most used messaging application, a group of users of hackers targeting the user's operating system, sees the software has installed a software seized.
WhatsApp officials revealed that cyber attackers have installed a virus software that will capture some people's operating systems by stealing their smartphones through the application .
The company said that behind the attack there was an "advanced cyber actor", and called on all users to update the WhatsApp applications.
What happened?
WhatsApp actually noticed the cyber attack earlier this month.
According to the British Financial Times (FT) newspaper, the company discovered that hackers were using WhatsApp's search feature to capture the operating systems of the users they were targeting.
Cyber attackers could install a spy surveillance software on the phone, even if the user did not accept the call.
According to the FT, this search was also deleted from the list of 'recent incoming calls' in the application.
Commenting on the BBC, WhatsApp officials said the gap was first noticed by the company's internal security experts and that information was shared with institutions including the US Department of Justice.
Who did it?
According to the FT newspaper, cyber attack was organized through a software developed by #NSO Group, an Israeli security company.
This software called "#Pegasus" has the ability to obtain special data from a particular device such as geolocation, microphone and camera recordings.
#WhatsApp's statement, "Attack, a spyware software that captures the operating system of the government by claiming to work with all the features of a private company claimed to work with the government," he said.
The Israeli NSO Group, which was behind the software, gained a reputation in the past as a "cyber arms dealer".
The Israeli company argued that this technology was only "open to the use of state institutions" and that it was presented to security and intelligence agencies to combat crime and terrorism after a strict licensing process.
Who was affected?
According to the news of FT's attackers who use a weakness in the application, 12 May, a lawyer living in England targeted the phone.
The unnamed lawyer, a group of Mexican journalists who filed a lawsuit against the NSO company and anti-government representation was represented by a Saudi opposition.
Amnesty International said that they had been targeted by software and tools developed by NSO before and said that human rights organizations have long feared such attacks.
Danna Ingleton of the Amnesty International Technology Unit said that more and more governments, particularly the journalists and activists they watch secretly, are targeting with such programs.
WhatsApp said in a statement, "We have informed many human rights organizations as much as possible and we have tried to inform civil society" statements were included.
According to whatsapp's owner, social media giant Facebook, the app has around 1.5 billion users worldwide.
The company says time is needed to determine the number of people affected and who they target.
What happened to WhatsApp?
On Monday, the company called on all users around the world to update the app for the measure.
Warning messages were also issued for security officials and cyber security experts in the United States.
Does this event say anything for the future of cryptic messaging?
WhatsApp describes the security system on its website:
"Privacy and security exist in our DNA, so that's why we have end-to-end encryption in our application."
Bringing WhatsApp in 2016, this feature aims to prevent messages, photos, voice messages, calls and documents from falling into the wrong hands.
Today, alongside WhatsApp, many applications such as Viber and Telegram use end-to-end encryption.
Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat applications such as messaging for such a encryption system does not exist.
Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg says that private messaging applications that work with the "end-to-end encryption" system are the future of technology.
However, as in this last case, if we can get our phone through private companies without understanding what is happening, our future may not be very bright.