Dutch intelligence says Russian hackers targeted Signal, WhatsApp users in global campaign

10.03.2026 17:00 Dutch intelligence agencies said on Monday that Russian hackers ran a large-scale campaign to hijack Signal and WhatsApp accounts, targeting government officials, military personnel and journalists, with some accounts successfully compromised. The Dutch agencies advised users not to share confidential or classified information via messaging apps, to regularly check connected devices, ignore unsolicited group invitations and consider using disappearing messages. Photo: CC0 The AIVD and MIVD said the operation targeted senior officials, military staff and civil servants worldwide, as well as journalists. Dutch authorities said victims in the Netherlands had been informed, but did not disclose their number or identities. The agencies said the attacks did not exploit technical flaws in the apps themselves, but instead relied on manipulating users. Hackers posed as, among others, Signal technical support and persuaded victims to hand over verification codes, PINs or scan QR codes. That allowed attackers to take over an account or add their own device to an existing one, gaining access to correspondence, including group chats, the agencies said. Dutch intelligence said similar tactics had been seen before from Russian groups. In 2023 and 2024, phishing attacks used invitations to chat groups, while in 2025 a campaign pushed Signal
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