- Elon Musk joked about WhatsApp’s security vulnerabilities on Twitter Thursday.
- A recent forensic analysis concluded that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ phone was hacked via a malicious link sent on WhatsApp.
- Several security flaws were reportedly found in the Facebook-owned messaging service in 2019.
- WhatsApp was also breached last year when hackers were able to install spyware on people’s phones.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Elon Musk on Thursday made a dig at WhatsApp’s recent history with security vulnerabilities.
Musk tweeted a picture of all the major messaging platforms’ versions of the robot arm emoji and wrote, “Last one comes with a free phone hack.”
New emoji! Last one comes with free phone hack. pic.twitter.com/T3jjwZycog
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2020
The last photo was Facebook-owned WhatsApp’s version of the emoji, a dig at the messaging app’s recent security problems.
In January, a forensic analysis of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' iPhone concluded it was breached using WhatsApp. The investigation concluded that a video containing malware had been sent to Bezos from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's personal WhatsApp account. After the video was sent, "large amounts of data" were extracted from the device, the investigation found.
WhatsApp did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on Musk's dig.
In 2019, WhatsApp reportedly disclosed 12 security vulnerabilities, including seven that were "critical." According to the database that collects these records, this number was much higher than in previous years, which had only one or two documented vulnerabilities.
WhatsApp has also experienced security breaches in the past. In May 2019, the app was hacked by attackers who installed spyware on people's devices. WhatsApp said that it discovered "an advanced cyber actor" had infected devices with malware, which was reportedly able to collect sensitive information, including location data and messages.