WhatsApp notifies hundreds of users who installed a fake app made by government spyware maker

WhatsApp notified roughly 200 users, mainly in Italy, that they may have installed a malicious unofficial iOS WhatsApp client containing spyware attributed to Italian firm SIO (ASIGINT). WhatsApp logged them out, warned them to remove the fake app and reinstall the official client, and said it will issue a legal demand; the incident echoes prior SIO-linked Android spyware (Spyrtacus) and highlights the use of fake apps by authorities to surveil journalists and civil society.