Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi informed the Senate on Tuesday that about 1,500 WhatsApp accounts have been hacked across the country since July 1, adding that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had recovered some of the accounts while work to recover others was underway.

Even though the Meta-owned application is end-to-end encrypted, which adds an extra layer of security to communication, hackers could still target devices through unsecured connections and access private conversations.

In details provided to the Senate today, the security czar said the “FIA’s Cybercrime Wing (CCW) had received 1,426 complaints related to hacked accounts since July 1,” adding that the figure did not include users who had not yet reported their compromised accounts.

He said 549 hacked accounts were successfully restored from the registered complaints, while the CCW was currently processing a further 877 complaints, with 20 cases escalated to formal inquiries.

Naqvi said 40 complaints remained unanswered and 817 were still in the verification stage.

Last year, ex-chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar claimed that a complaint was filed with the CCW for recovery of his “hacked” WhatsApp account.

Sources in the FIA had said that the agency would follow the standard operating procedure on the complaint of Nisar’s son.

The sources had said that the agency received enormous complaints through its online portal and other forums, but it lacked the required staff to process all those complaints. Moreover, they had said that the FIA was not equipped with modern gadgets required to counter cybercrime.

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Government officials were also warned against replying to WhatsApp messages after security agencies identified malware to gain access to important government documents.

Some hackers had attempted to gain access to mobile phones of senior bureaucrats by pretending to be government officials.

They had also tried to seek information by sending malware through WhatsApp.

A senior government official, who was privy to the hacking attempts, had told Dawn that some joint secretaries and additional secretaries in different ministries received messages from hackers impersonating their bosses and other senior officials in various departments.

In 2019, senior government officials in multiple US-allied countries, including Pakistan, were targeted with hacking software that used WhatsApp to take over users’ phones, according to people familiar with the messaging company’s investigation.

Sources familiar with WhatsApp’s internal investigation into the breach had said a “significant” portion of the known victims were high-profile government and military officials spread across at least 20 countries on five continents.