Forensic Report Links Saudi Crown Prince Account to Jeff Bezos WhatsApp Hack
A new Guardian report reveals that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had large amounts of data stolen from his phone via a malicious WhatsApp message sent from an account used by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
A Guardian report reveals that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos suffers a massive data breach after receiving a malicious file over WhatsApp in May 2018. The unsolicited message, which allegedly contains a video file laden with malware, originates from an account used by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. This cyberattack allows hackers to surreptitiously extract large amounts of personal data from the world's richest man's phone.
While the forensic analysis strongly links the malicious file to the Saudi royal's number, the report stops short of directly implicating the crown prince himself. The exact scope of the stolen information remains unknown, as experts have not yet disclosed the specific types of data compromised during the breach. Additionally, the independent party responsible for conducting the forensic analysis remains unidentified in the current findings.
This brazen cyberattack raises serious questions about the subsequent leaks of Bezos's personal text messages to the National Enquirer and the timing surrounding the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The incident highlights a critical vulnerability in even the most heavily protected individuals, proving that digital security easily bypasses traditional physical protection measures.