India seeks answers from WhatsApp after cyber espionage

India demanded answers from WhatsApp over a snooping scandal Thursday after coming under fire from critics who accused authorities of using malware installed on the Facebook-owned messaging service to spy on citizens.

WhatsApp has filed a lawsuit in the United States against Israeli technology firm NSO Group, accusing it of using the hugely popular instant messaging platform to conduct cyberespionage on nearly 1,400 journalists, diplomats, dissidents and human right activists worldwide. 

The Israeli firm has denied journalists and activists were targeted and said that it only licenses its software to governments for "fighting crime and terror".

Nearly two dozen activists, lawyers and journalists were targeted in India -- WhatsApp's biggest market with some 400 million active users -- according to Indian media reports.

The Indian Express reported WhatsApp confirmed a number of Indian users had been targeted by the Pegasus spyware, which installed itself on their devices and relayed back data to the hackers. 

New Delhi has asked WhatsApp to "explain the kind of breach and what it is doing to safeguard the privacy of millions of Indian citizens," information and technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote on Twitter, denying the government had used the malware to spy on its citizens. 

But opposition leaders accused the government of invading citizens' privacy.

"A government that spies on journalists/activists/Opposition leaders and treats its own citizens like criminals has lost the right to lead in our democracy," main opposition Congress party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a tweet.

Indian media reports said 20 activists, lawyers and journalists were informed by WhatsApp recently that their phones were compromised for two weeks in May. 

Rights activists and dissidents in India have accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government of intimidating them over their criticism of policies. 

Since Modi's ascent to the top post in 2014, it has banned hundreds of non government organisations and stopped funding of many more. 

Rupali Jadhav, an activist, and one of those contacted by WhatsApp said she suspected that she was targeted for her work on caste, class and gender rights.

"We are told India is a democracy. But if our right to privacy is violated, doesn't that raise questions?" she told an Indian online outlet. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Viber boss rose to CEO from bakeshop beginnings believing in big dreams

SINGAPORE—Djamel Agaoua checks the Viber app on his phone around after every 10 minutes for updates on the messaging platform that he now leads.

Coming from a family of bakers, the 50-year-old French CEO recalled how believing in his dreams pushed him to make a name for himself, and eventually become the big boss of one of the biggest communications apps in the world.

“Believe in your dreams. My father was a baker so it was not written that I would be CEO one day, not even of a small company,” he told ABS-CBN News with a chuckle.

“Sometimes, you don’t believe in your dreams so you don’t put yourself in a condition to achieve those dreams,” he said.

Agaoua, an economics engineer by profession and the youngest in a brood of 4, said his dream of leading a company was no easy feat as he had to support his parents since he was the only one with a college degree.

“I didn’t come from a rich family so I had to support my parents…But growing up, our bakery store didn’t earn that much so they needed some support,” he said.

Agaoua said he had always wanted to put up his own firm, drawing inspiration from Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple’s late boss Steve Jobs.

“At the time Bill Gates was creating his company and Steve Jobs was creating Apple and I was really impressed by those guys and I wanted to start a venture but I couldn’t find the right idea,” he said.

“It was a difficult journey of course, but being an entrepreneur pushed you take some risk and to try to push it further and further,” he said.

After finishing school for free in France, Agaoua worked for a consultancy firm for about 8 years before co-founding AChatPro, a company that offers information technology services.

Agaoua went on to become an investor and board member in several other startups, explaining that the direction he is taking is his way of paying it forward after having businessmen invest in his projects in the past.

“Now, today, I’m an investor and support kids that have projects. The only way to make that happen is to knock on all the doors and try to find people who can make [your dream] happen for you,” he said.

For breadwinners dreaming of putting up their own company or making a name for themselves in the corporate world, Agaoue advises them to find people willing to invest in their ideas.

“They have to support their family of course, but the way I did it is that I convinced people that have money to support me and to invest in my businesses and it’s the only way,” he said.

Now, Agaoua continues to lead Viber, 2 years since he was tapped to head the messaging platform. Agaoua took the helm of Viber in 2017, just 2 years after the messaging platform was bought by Japanese international group Rakuten.

As Viber’s leader, Agaoua explained that he wants the company to put data privacy as its top priority as he emphasized the need to provide users with an alternative from Facebook’s Messenger.

“We think that it’s very important that there’s an alternative to this, a real one not an opportunistic one—one that is based on a very clear strategy…We are here to make business, to offer service that makes sense first of all, that works fast, well, and respects it promises and be able to monetize,” he said.

“I’m not saying that we’re gonna beat Facebook or be the winner at the end. These are not my words, this is not our philosophy,” he said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Viber 'hidden chats' now available in Philippines

Messaging app Viber on Wednesday rolled out its new "hidden chats" feature for its 23 million users in the Philippines to boost security in one of the world's social media capitals.

The new option allows users to hide specific chats from the main screen and requires a four digit access PIN, Cyprus-based Viber said in a statement.

The "hidden chats" option is part of the latest version of Viber, which features complete end-to-end encryption across all devices.

The app update also includes increased security across the platform for both group messages and one-to-one communication.

Viber is one of the world’s leading messaging apps with more than 711 million unique users worldwide.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Why Viber is introducing 'public chat' feature

MANILA – Free messaging app Viber now allows users to "eavesdrop" on the conversations of celebrities and personalities through its recently launched public chat feature.

The public chat feature allows Viber users to view live discussions of public chat accounts and “like” specific text or photo messages.

Viber chief executive officer Talmon Marco likened the experience to watching a reality show, to maximize on the digital age’s fascination with celebrities.

“Public Chats for us is a fascinating social experiment. We are taking Viber to the next step in many ways by giving our users something new to do on the service. We are letting them address a need, which is universal and has been so for ages, and that is to follow what other people are doing,” he said in a press briefing in Taguig on Thursday.

“Public Chats, of course with the permission of those you are listening to, is allowing you to follow in a way that is really unprecedented the lives of the people you care about: celebrities, personalities, sports people, or just average group of people that have something interesting to talk about,” he added.

Currently, there are 25 active public chat accounts in the Philippines, which include personalities such as radio trio Boys Night Out, podcast hosts Becky Nights, and Manila Secrets.

Manila Secrets, which is described as a group that chats “about Manila’s hidden secrets,” is a group composed of Tim Yap, Bubbles and Paolo Paraiso, Divine Lee, and JM Rodriguez, Aiko Melendez and Aubrey Miles, among others.

Brands such as Globe, Smart and SM Supermalls also have their own chat accounts.

Marco said more local celebrities and brands are expected to open their discussions to the public, but the content is entirely up to the participants.

“Where this is going, we don’t know. That depends on where those who chat will take it and we’ll see what happens,” said Marco.

“It’s so much interesting to follow a chat than to follow posts. Chats are far more interactive and interesting,” he added.

Currently, followers of the chat accounts are not allowed to comment, but Marco said a comment feature may soon be added.

He said the feature is being introduced on a “controlled rollout” to allow the Viber team to customize and configure chat settings.

Around 300 public chats are now open globally, but Marco said interested parties can apply to start a public chat be sending a request to publicchats@viber.com.

“We’ll take a look at it, if we think it’s interesting, then we’ll give them their own public chat. Later on the objective is to really open it up to everybody,” he said.

The new feature is available for update on Android and IOS devices, and will soon be available on Viber’s desktop version.

Marco said Viber is looking to add functionality and more features to the app, while maintaining its core function of sending multimedia messages.

“Viber is about communicating and sharing with the people around you, people you care about. The public chat is really an extension of that, which are the people you care about but you don’t necessarily know,” he said.

Mobile remittances?

One of the possible features that Viber may soon adapt is a mobile remittance service.

“I think the ability to send money, which is something very interesting for the Philippine market, is definitely something we are looking at closely,” he said.

In September, Viber launched a video call service on both its desktop and mobile versions.

Viber is available for free for iPhone, Android phones and tablets, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Blackberry 10, Windows, Windows 8, Mac, Linux, Symbian, Nokia S40 and Bada devices over 3G/4G or WiFi connections.

Viber has an estimated 209 million users worldwide, 18 million of which are located in the Philippines.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook rolls out free calling for iPhone users in the U.S.

Want to talk on your smartphone for free? Facebook Inc. has you covered.

On Wednesday, the company started offering free voice calling in the U.S. through the Facebook Messenger app for iPhone.

Sorry Android and Windows phone users, but for now, the service is only available on the iPhone.



The Verge was the first to notice the new development, which a Facebook spokesperson told us is an extension of the VoIP in Messenger test the company started rolling out the first week of the year.

For now, the service is only available in the U.S. and Canada.

To see how it works, my colleague Sal and I tried it out here in the office. The sound was not perfect, and the first time we used it there was a slight delay each time one of us spoke. The connection was better the second time, but the sound was a little weird.

Sal described it as "fuzzy." I'd describe it as "tinny."

To try it out the new feature, you'll need to first download the Facebook Messenger app on your phone. Open it up and tap the name of the person you want to call from your conversation list. Then hit the "i" button at the top right-hand side of your phone. There you'll find an option to make a free call if, and only if, the person you are trying to call is also using Messenger for iOS.

If the person you want to call is not on Messenger, then sorry Charlie, it's not going to work.

One final note: You will still have to pay for your data usage if you make a call over the 3G or 4G network, but if you are using Wi-Fi, the call is really free.

source: latimes.com