'You'd better check your phone, Jared': UN warns Trump's son-in-law that he might also have been hacked by the Saudi Crown Prince - after Jeff Bezos' device was compromised by a message from MBS

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Trump's special adviser son-in-law could also have been hacked by the Saudi Crown Prince, according to investigators looking into allegations that Amazon boss Jeff Bezos had his device compromised. 

Agnes Callamard, a UN special rapporteur who has accused Mohammad bin Salman, 34, of being involved in the hacking of Bezos' phone, warned that Jared Kushner, 39, could have been another target and should urgently seek cyber security expertise.

'I will hope that Donald Trump's son-in-law and anyone else is at the moment changing their phone, checking their phone and contacting the best cyber security experts so that we can get to the bottom of that hacking strategy and policy,' Callamard told CNN.  

Kushner, husband of the president's daughter Ivanka Trump, and the prince first met in March 2017 during discussions around Saudi Arabia's modernization plans. 

Private messages: Trump's special adviser son-in-law Jared Kushner could also have been hacked by the Saudi Crown Prince, according to investigators looking into allegations that Amazon boss Jeff Bezos was hacked. Kushner and Ivanka Trump are pictured here in 2017 with Mohammad bin Salman 

Kushner, husband of the president's daughter Ivanka Trump, and the prince first met in March 2017 during discussions around Saudi Arabia's modernization plans

White House officials have so far downplayed reports of a hack. 'Saudi Arabia is obviously our partner and ally,' press secretary Hogan Gidley said on Thursday

According to CNN, a source close to the Saudi royal court stayed in touch after over WhatsApp - the same app used in the apparent cyber attack on Bezos' phone.

While use of WhatsApp is permitted by the White House counsel's office under certain conditions, Kushner's use of the messaging service to privately communicate with the Saudi prince raised alarm bells among US officials, according to The Telegraph. 

As one of the most powerful officials in Trump's administration, any breach of Kushner's phone could pose a security risk to the US.  

When Kushner joined White House staff in 2017, intelligence officials initially refused to give him top-level security clearance. Despite concerns from US intelligence, the president ordered his son-in-law be given full clearance and access to top secret intelligence in May 2018.  

Agnes Callamard, a UN special rapporteur who has accused bin Salman of being involved in the hacking of Bezos' phone, warned Kushner and anyone else who messaged the prince to urgently seek cyber security expertise

White House officials have so far downplayed reports of a hack. 

'Saudi Arabia is obviously our partner and ally,' deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said on Thursday. 'I'm aware of the reports. I don't have any more information than that. We obviously take those situations seriously and so when we have something more I'll let you know.'  

Callamard said there is a 'medium to high probability that the source of the hacking was indeed the WhatsApp account of Mr. Mohammed bin Salman.'

'What is important with Jeff Bezos' case is that we now have proof that the Saudis do not only target the phones of dissents living abroad -- they also include the phones and the mobile technology in general of people of strategic interest to Saudi Arabia,' she said. 

She urged anyone else who has been in contact with bin Salman to take a hard look at their own cyber security. 

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also messaged the Saudi prince over WhatsApp when he was foreign secretary and could have been at risk of cyber attack.    

Bezos' team of investigators hired FTI Consulting last year after The National Enquirer published an expose into his affair with Lauren Sanchez which included personal details of text messages and nude photos the Amazon founder had sent his then mistress. 

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos (pictured) hired a team of investigators last year after The National Enquirer published an expose into his affair with Lauren Sanchez which included personal details of text messages and nude photos the Amazon founder had sent his then mistress

The report suggests that a video file sent to Bezos (third from left) by Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (middle) was the source of a hack

This is the message that Mohammed bin Salman sent Jeff Bezos on May 1 which is thought to have been the 'hack' that harvested data from his phone 

A final WhatsApp mesage sent to Bezos by bin Salman within hours of Bezos being told via phone call that Saudi Arabia had launched an online campaign against him. The cyber security experts say the timing of the message was suspicious given Bezos and Salman had not spoken for more than three months and he had just been told over the phone about the campaign

The consulting firm produced a report in November that has only now been made public which suggests that a video file sent to Bezos by Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman was the source of a hack.   

It was sent to his device on May 1, 2019. 

The report said that a large amount of data went missing from Bezos' phone afterwards, and it also suggested that bin Salman or someone using his WhatsApp account was listening to Bezos' phone calls and texts in the months that followed. 

The claims have triggered an international ripple effect with investigations now underway by the UN. 

The FBI had already been investigating the alleged hack, and New York prosecutors are investigating the Enquirer's reporting of the story, sources have previously told The Wall St Journal. 

In November, he sent this one - a forwarded meme showing a woman with the words 'Arguing with a woman is like reading the software license agreement. In the end you have to ignore everything and click I agree.' The cyber firm Bezos hired to look into his phone and whether or not it had been hacked say this suggested bin Salman knew he was getting a divorce - something that was not public at the time. The experts say she 'resembled' Lauren Sanchez

Screenshots of the WhatsApp message Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman allegedly sent Jeff Bezos including the video file which 'hacked' his phone were published Wednesday by Vice Motherboard after obtaining them from the cyber security firm report into Bezos' phone.

The firm - FTI Consulting - had been asked to look at the Amazon founder's devices after a National Enquirer expose about his relationship with Lauren Sanchez.

They discovered the messages from bin Salman including one which they say likely led to a trove of data being taken from his phone. It was sent in May 2018 and showed a Saudi flag and a Swedish flag with Arabic writing across it.  

The Arab state's minister of state for foreign affairs described the claims as 'total nonsense' on Thursday.

'Total nonsense - this story was out almost a year ago, it was debunked, we rejected it completely,' Adel al-Jubeir told CNBC at the Davos summit.

'It was based on false and unproven allegations, people trying to sensationalize something that is pure fiction.'  

Experts in the field have also cast doubt on the source of the attack, including the former head of security at WhatsApp's parent company Facebook. 

Forensics specialists Bill Marczak and Alex Stamos told The Wall Street Journal that the investigators at FTI Consulting, the firm Bezos hired, were not able to identify the malicious software that was lying in a video file that they think might have hijacked the phone.  

Alex Stamos, former head of security at Facebook, said it has not been conclusively proven that Saudi Arabia hacked Bezos' phone

Marczak and Stamos say the team at FTI should have been able to do that.  

Stamos worked as the chief security officer at Facebook until August 2018. The company owns WhatsApp. 

He says that the FTI report suggests they had access to the data that would be required to decrypt the file and examine it for software but that they, for some reason, did not. 

'They don't seem to understand how to properly decrypt WhatsApp attachments,' he told the Journal. 

Marczak said bluntly: 'It is not a conclusive report.'  

Bezos has not commented publicly on the claims.