WASHINGTON: It has been confirmed that hackers remotely installed surveillance software on phones and other devices causing a major vulnerability for messaging app WhatsApp.

WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, said the attack targeted a “select number” of users, and was orchestrated by “an advanced cyber actor”.

The attack was developed by Israeli security firm NSO Group, according to a report in the Financial Times.

On Monday WhatsApp urged all of its 1.5 billion users to update their apps as an added precaution.

(Agencies)