UN Officials Banned From Using WhatsApp Due To Security Concerns

Reports have emerged stating that United Nations officials have been banned from using Whatsapp since June 2019, because the messaging app is not “supported as a secure mechanism” according to a UN spokesperson.

The spokesperson was asked if UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had been in communication with Suadi Crown Prince or any other world leaders using WhatsApp to which he said senior officials from the UN are no longer authorised to use the app:

The senior officials at the U.N. have been instructed not to use WhatsApp, it’s not supported as a secure mechanism. So no, I do not believe the secretary-general uses it.

Security researcher believe singling out WhatsApp as insecure might not make much sense since a number of messaging apps probably have flaws which can be exploited:

Every application has vulnerabilities you can exploit in some way. Other instant messaging companies can dream of their [WhatsApp] kind of security procedures.

WhatsApp’s security has been called into question after the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos WhatsApp got hacked. Bezos was in contact with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and received a file suspected to have malware from the royal.