Governments Allegedly Inject Spy Tools in Popular Software, including Whatsapp and Skype

Popular software like Whatsapp, Skype, VLC and WinRAR are being infected with spyware to snoop on webcams, keystrokes, microphone and web browsing data.

It has been discovered that even a legitimate download of these softwares are being tampered at an Internet Service Provider (ISP) level allegedly by the government in order to spread advance form of surveillance software known as “FinFisher”.

A cybersecurity firm claimed that new FinFisher variants had been discovered in seven countries, two of which were being targeted by "man in the middle" attacks at an ISP level (An attack where your service provider can intercept your web traffic and even alter it). This means that even if you download these software from the official websites, there are chances that you received an infected copy.

The list of malware-infected applications delivered this way includes products such as WhatsApp, Skype, Avast, WinRAR and VLC Player, among others.

After installing an infected version of such a software, everything would work as expected however the software might be bundled with a surveillance tool which won’t be visible to the naked eye and be allegedly misused by Government agencies.