Should You Reconsider Using WhatsApp After the Jeff Bezos Hack? Probably Not

Amid reports that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s phone was allegedly hacked by Saudi Arabia — with the direct involvement of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman via the popular chat app WhatsApp — some users may be wondering: Can I be hacked the same way?

Investigators have “medium to high confidence” that Bezos’s device was compromised after the chief executive received a mysterious video file from Bin Salman, also known as “MBS,” via WhatsApp, according to a report from FTI Consulting, a firm that has investigated Bezos’ phone. After that file was received, Bezos’ phone started sending unusually large amounts of outbound data. Around six months later, Bin Salman sent Bezos messages that suggested he had knowledge of the CEO’s then-secret affair with Lauren Sanchez, details of which became public in January of last year. The report, first published by Motherboard, concludes that gigabytes of photos, text messages, and perhaps audio recordings made using Bezos’ iPhone microphone may have been sent to whomever conducted the attack.

So is it time to delete WhatsApp, a popular chat app used by at least 1.5 billion people worldwide? Probably not, if you’re worried about this specific incident. 

Some in the forensics community have taken issue with FTI’s report, claiming it leaves important questions unanswered. Chris Sanders, a network security instructor and expert in a tool used by FTI during its investigation, says the evidence laid out in the report fails to credibly support its conclusion.

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