Facebook has been known for their security issues along these few years. Now, it’s WhatsApp turn to have a security issue. Users have been told to update to the latest version of the app due to hackers accessing people’s messages.
The hackers are able to get to people’s messages because of sharing an MP4 file across the platform. The messaging app had the issue fixed but anyone who hasn’t downloaded the latest update is vulnerable to the hack.
This WhatsApp security threat is seen as quite severe by India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). They posted an advisory saying that the threat “could be exploited by a remote attacker”. CERT-In had said this after the Indian government said it is empowered to “intercept, monitor or decrypt… any information generated, transmitted, received, or stored” on the phones or devices of its citizens.
Earlier on this month, almost twenty people revealed that their WhatsApp accounts were targeted. They were twenty of the 1400 people that had gotten a message saying that their digital communications may have been compromised.
WhatsApp says that the above attack earlier this month isn’t related to the recent find of the MP4 file. They have also said there is no evidence that this vulnerability has been exploited by third-parties. So that’s one good sign.
Instead, WhatsApp has said that the users were instead targeted with spyware developed by controversial Israeli technology firm NSO Group. “WhatsApp is constantly working to improve the security of our service,” a spokesperson told The Independent.
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