US bans WhatsApp from House of Representatives staff devices

The U.S. authorities has banned WhatsApp from units utilized by U.S. Home of Representatives employees, saying the app poses potential safety dangers, Reuters reported, citing a memo despatched to Home employees.

“The Workplace of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a excessive threat to customers because of the lack of transparency in the way it protects person information, absence of saved information encryption, and potential safety dangers concerned with its use,” Reuters reported the memo as saying.

The memo as a substitute recommends employees use apps like Sign, iMessage, FaceTime, and Microsoft Groups, the report stated.

Meta in January said it had detected and disrupted a hacking marketing campaign concentrating on about 90 WhatsApp customers, together with journalists. The hack was linked to Paragon Options, an Israeli spyware and adware maker that was acquired in December of last year by American personal fairness big AE Industrial Companions.

And in line with a research report in May, the governments of Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, and Singapore are seemingly prospects of Paragon.

Meta didn’t instantly return a request for remark.