Ex-WhatsApp Security Chief Sues Meta Over Vulnerabilities, Retaliation

Ex-WhatsApp security chief Attaullah Baig has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Meta and several of the company’s top executives, accusing them of retaliation after he tried to get critical cybersecurity failures fixed. Baig, who joined WhatsApp in 2021 and was its head of security until February 2025, claims hundreds of engineers had unrestricted access to WhatsApp user data without a valid reason and that the company did not address a significant volume of account takeovers.

He also alleges Meta violated a 2020 FTC privacy order and failed to disclose the issues to the SEC, which he says could amount to securities fraud. The lawsuit, filed under SOX, names Mark Zuckerberg and other senior figures including Will Cathcart, Nitin Gupta, Pinaki Mukerji and Mark Tsimelzon, and seeks a jury trial, reinstatement, backpay, and compensation for legal fees, emotional distress, and mental anguish, according to SecurityWeek. Baig was terminated a few months after he reported Meta’s alleged cybersecurity deficiencies to the SEC, with the case reported on 9 September 2025.