Africa's Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies , Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams , said her WhatsApp messages had been hacked. A spokesperson for the minister confirmed the incident and said the Facebook- owned messaging platform has already launched an investigation into the incident.
Yesterday morning, the Ministry of Communications itself tweeted that Ndabeni-Abrahams' WhatsApp account had been hacked, "resulting in private and confidential information being in the hands of third parties."
“The WhatsApp account of the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, has been hacked, resulting in private and confidential information being in the hands of third parties“.
In a subsequent tweet, the Ministry says: “This illegal activity has been reported to the relevant authorities and the owners of the platforms. Obtaining and distributing information obtained illegally is a crime and offenders are reported to the authorities.”
Most worryingly, Ndabeni-Abrahams only uses one mobile phone and has a single WhatsApp account, meaning both personal and professional data is at risk.
The Minister's spokesman did not say how the breach, but said authorities are investigating the incident.
At this time, we do not know what technique the criminals to gain access to Ndabeni-Abrahams' WhatsApp account.
Last year, reports emerged showing a relatively simple way to hack into a WhatsApp account. This is done by using the SMS authentication code that WhatsApp uses to verify new users.
Cybercriminals often target messaging platforms. According to Business Insider, WhatsApp is trying to develop new technology to offer more security to users . For example, it plans to use fingerprint verification to view messages. It is also said that it will soon offer the ability to send videos or photos that disappear once the recipient has viewed them.
All platforms need to strengthen security to protect their users. On the other hand, users themselves need to be very careful, especially those who are more likely to be targeted by hackers due to their position (politicians, journalists, activists, businessmen, etc.).
