New Delhi20 minutes ago
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Government devices in the US have been banned for using WhatsApp. The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the American House of Representatives (the lower house of the Parliament there), which said, ‘WhatsApp can no longer be used on any government device. This includes all three versions of the app- mobile, desktop and web.
The notification was told that if a staff phone has a WhatsApp installed, it should be deleted immediately. Not only this, the order also warned to be careful with messages or fishing scam coming from unknown numbers. In the order, the staff advises to use other messaging apps instead of WhatsApp.
What is the reason for the ban? It was informed in the order that the Office of Cyber Security has considered WhatsApp as a ‘high-risk’ app. 3 major reasons were given behind this …
- Lack of transparency in data protection: WhatsApp does not clear how the user’s data is protected. That is, what happens to the messages you send, it is not completely clear.
- Lack of Stord data encryption: The message of WhatsApp may be end-to-end encrypted, but the data stores stated to the lack of encryption. This may cause data leaks at risk.
- Security Risk: WhatsApp user data handling methods have some shortcomings, causing fear of cyber attack.
In January this year, there were questions on security
Earlier in January this year, WhatsApp himself confessed that Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions targeted many of its users, especially journalists and civil society members. The incident questioned the security of WhatsApp.
What does Meta say?
Meta has protested on this ban. The company’s spokesperson Andy Stone told Reuters, ‘We do not agree with this decision at all. WhatsApp has a default and-to-end encryption, which makes it more secure than other messaging apps.
Meta claims that WhatsApp’s security level is better than apps that the house has suggested as an alternative. Stone also said that many members of the house and Senate use WhatsApp, and they want the members of the house to also use it officially.
More than 48 crore WhatsApp users in India There are about 48.9 million users of WhatsApp in India. At the same time, it has more than 2 billion users worldwide. WhatsApp was launched in 2009. In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for $ 19 billion.
