US bans WhatsApp from House of Representatives staff devices | TechCrunch

The U.S. government has banned WhatsApp from devices used by U.S. House of Representatives staff, saying the app poses potential security risks, Reuters reportedciting a memo sent to House staff.

“The Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption, and potential security risks involved with its use,” Reuters reported the memo as saying.

The memo instead recommends staff use apps like Signal, iMessage, FaceTime, and Microsoft Teams, the report said.

Meta in January said it had detected and disrupted a hacking campaign targeting about 90 WhatsApp users, including journalists. The hack was linked to Paragon Solutions, an Israeli spyware maker that was acquired in December of last year by American private equity giant AE Industrial Partners.

And according to a research report in May, the governments of Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, and Singapore are likely customers of Paragon.

Meta did not immediately return a request for comment.