Portugal warns foreign state-backed hackers targeting officials' and military messaging accounts

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2026-03-11 22:58:31

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LISBON, March 11 (Reuters) - Foreign state-backed hackers have launched a global cyber campaign to access the WhatsApp and Signal accounts of government officials, ‌diplomats and military personnel, the national intelligence service (SIS) warned on Wednesday.

In a rare statement, the SIS said the hackers seek to trick users of these platforms “into sharing sensitive data, such ⁠as passwords”, in order to gain access to individual and group chats and shared files.

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“The targets are government officials, diplomats, military personnel, and civil society members with access to privileged information from Portugal and allied countries,” SIS said.

SIS did not identify the foreign state behind the hackers, who are “exploiting ‌potential ⁠careless use by individuals relying on the end-to-end encryption of the two applications,” widely used by officials, military personnel, and executives.

It said the attacks “do not mean that ⁠WhatsApp or Signal have been compromised,” but did not rule out the possibility.

Two intelligence agencies in the Netherlands ⁠said on Monday that Russian-backed hackers had also launched a global cyber campaign to gain ⁠access to both platforms.

SIS said it issued the alert also to help the public prepare for cyberattacks.

Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

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