Credit: John McAfee
The reigning master of hacking and presidential campaign performance artist of our time, John McAfee, broke the news of his hack to Cybersecurity Ventures by phone that his team was able to demonstrate that WhatsApp messages between two cooperating researchers using compromised Android phones … could be compromised. They breathlessly reported that:
Cybersecurity expert John McAfee and a team of four other hackers, using their own servers located in a remote section in the mountains of Colorado, were able to read an encrypted WhatsApp message.
While the fact that end-to-end cryptography could be compromised at either end should not be news to many here, we all should heed McAfee’s warning:
I have been warning the world for years that we are teetering on the edge of an abyss, that our cyber security paradigms no longer function, and that chaos will descend if something is not done. The fundamental operating system (Android), used by 90% of the world, and that should be the first bulwark against malicious intrusion, is flawed. Should I not bring this to the world’s attention through a dramatic demonstration? Do I not owe it to the world?
Yes, John, yes you do.