A message from Ronald Machoian, International Safety and Security Director, UW-Madison
Many travelers choose to use WhatsApp to communicate when abroad. A recent report states that WhatsApp was hacked by a program believed to have been developed originally by NSO Group, a commercial security and intelligence firm. It appears that most of those breached were targeted, so it is very unlikely that you were an unwitting victim of the attack. However, WhatsApp is urging users to update their app to the latest protected version to avoid similar such attacks.
Below are the instructions to update WhatsApp on your phone (for Android and iPhone). It is possible that your app could have already performed an update.
How do you update WhatsApp on Android?
– Open the Google Play store app (often listed as the Play store)
– Tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) on the top left of the screen
– Tap My Apps & Games and find WhatsApp
– Tap update
– If the app has already been updated it will appear on the list with an ‘open’ prompt
– The current Android version of the app is 2.19.134
How do you update WhatsApp on iPhone?
– Open the App Store
– Tap Updates at the bottom of the screen
– Find WhatsApp and press update
– If it has already been updated it will appear with an ‘open’ prompt
– The latest WhatsApp version on iOS is 2.19.51
Learn other information at the International Safety and Security website.