Defeating online terrorism: Co-operation is the remedy

This week’s report that a weakness in WhatsApp allowed hackers to inject commercial spyware on to phones is another example, as if one was needed, that a belief in the idea of privacy requires the kind of optimism Lotto ticket sales relies on.

That the malicious code could be secretly imposed even if users did not answer phone calls, and the calls often disappeared from phone logs, adds a sinister air to the revelation.