Former WhatsApp Employee Says Bosses Ignored Cybersecurity Flaws

A former employee at Meta Platforms Inc.’s WhatsApp filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging he repeatedly raised cybersecurity concerns about the messaging app with his superiors but was ignored and retaliated against.

Attaullah Baig, who identifies himself as the former head of security at WhatsApp, said he discovered “systemic cybersecurity failures that posed serious risks to user data” in 2021. For instance, Baig said he discovered that about 1,500 WhatsApp engineers had unrestricted access to user data and could move or steal it without detection or an audit trail, according to the lawsuit.