8 Ways Hackers Can Access Your WhatsApp Messages
Think WhatsApp's encryption of messages makes it safe? There are a few different ways hackers can hack WhatsApp.
WhatsApp is a well-liked messaging app that is simple to use. It uses end-to-end encryption to try to keep your messages private, among other security features. However, despite the effectiveness of these security measures, WhatsApp is still susceptible to hacking, which can compromise the privacy of your contacts and messages.
Since knowing is only half the battle, we can take action to avoid complacency by simply being aware of our weaknesses. To that end, WhatsApp can be hacked in a few different ways.
1.GIF-based remote code execution
was discovered in WhatsApp in October 2019 by security researcher Awakened. This flaw allowed hackers to take control of the app by using a GIF image. When a user opens the Gallery view of WhatsApp to send a media file, the hack exploits the way images are processed there.
The app displays a preview of the file after parsing the GIF in this situation. Because they contain multiple encoded frames, GIF files are unique. This indicates that the image can conceal code.
A malicious GIF sent to a user by a hacker could compromise the user's entire chat history. Who the user was messaging and what they were saying would be visible to the hackers. They also had access to users' WhatsApp-sent files, images, and videos.
On Android 8.1 and 9, the vulnerability affected WhatsApp versions up to 2.19.230.Fortunately, Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, patched the vulnerability after Awakened responsibly disclosed it.WhatsApp should always be updated to keep you safe from this issue.
2.Attack by the Voice of the Pegasus
The Pegasus voice call hack was another WhatsApp vulnerability that was discovered at the beginning of 2019.
By simply making a WhatsApp voice call to their intended victim, this terrifying attack enabled hackers to gain access to a device. The attack may still be successful even in the event that the target did not respond to the call. Additionally, it's possible that the target is unaware that malware has been installed on their device.
Using a technique known as buffer overflow, this worked. An attack inserts a large amount of code into a small buffer with the intention of "overflowing" it and writing code to a location it shouldn't be able to access. The hacker can carry out malicious actions if they are able to execute code in a location that ought to be secure.
Pegasus, an older and well-known piece of spyware, was installed as a result of this attack. As a result, hackers were able to gather information about messages, photos, videos, and phone calls. They could even use the devices' cameras and microphones to record.
Windows 10 Mobile, Android, iOS, and Tizen devices all suffer from this flaw. The Israeli company NSO Group, which has been accused of spying on Amnesty International staff and other human rights activists, used it most recently. WhatsApp was updated to protect itself from this attack after the hacking news broke
3.Attacks Using Social Engineering
Socially engineered attacks, which take advantage of human psychology to steal information or spread false information, are another way that WhatsApp is vulnerable.
Check Point Research, a security company, provided one illustration of this attack, which they dubbed FakesApp.This made it possible for people to alter the text of another person's response and make use of the quote feature in group chat. Basically, hackers could make statements appear to be from other legitimate users by planting fake ones.
This could be accomplished by the researchers by decrypting WhatsApp messages. They were able to view data exchanged between WhatsApp's web and mobile versions as a result of this.
They could also alter their values in group chats from hereafter that, they could send messages that appeared to be from other people while acting as other people. They could also alter the replies' text.
This could be used to spread false information or scams in worrying ways. Net reports that the researchers spoke at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas in 2019 despite the fact that the vulnerability had been disclosed in 2018.
4.Jacking of media files
WhatsApp and Telegram are both impacted by Media File Jacking. This attack exploits the way apps write media files like photos and videos to a device's external storage.
The attack begins with the installation of malware within an app that appears to be harmless. After that, this can monitor incoming files for WhatsApp or Telegram. The malware might substitute a bogus file for the genuine one whenever a new one arrives.
The issue was discovered by Symantec, which suggests that it could be used to defraud individuals or spread false information.
However, there is a quick solution to this problem. When using WhatsApp, you should select Chat Settings from the Settings menu. After that, locate the Save to Gallery option and check to see that it is disabled. You will be shielded from this vulnerability by this. However, in order to truly address the issue, app developers will need to fundamentally alter how their applications handle media files in the future.
5.Third-Party Paid Apps
You wouldn't believe how many paid legal apps have appeared on the market that are only meant to hack into secure systems.
This could be accomplished by big businesses collaborating with oppressive governments to target activists and journalists; or by cybercriminals with the goal of stealing personal information from you.
Spyzie and mSPY are two apps that can easily hack into your WhatsApp account and steal your personal information.
Purchasing the app, installing it, and activating it on the target phone are all that are required. After that, all you have to do is open a web browser and connect to your app dashboard to view private WhatsApp data like messages, contacts, and statuses. However, it goes without saying that this should not actually be done!
6.Phishing WhatsApp clones
An old method of hacking that is still used by cybercriminals worldwide is to install malware using clones of fake websites. Malicious websites are these clone websites.
The method of hacking has now also been used to enter Android systems. An attacker will first attempt to install a WhatsApp clone, which may look strikingly similar to the original app, in order to hack into your WhatsApp account.
Take, for instance, the WhatsApp Pink rip-off. It claims to transform the green background of the original WhatsApp into a pink one. The process is as follows:
A link to download the WhatsApp Pink app to change their app's background color is sent to an unwitting user. And despite the fact that it actually makes the app's background pink, as soon as you install it, it will start collecting data from everything on your phone, not just WhatsApp.
7.Web WhatsApp
If you spend the majority of your day using a computer, WhatsApp Web is a useful tool. WhatsApp users will be able to use it more conveniently because they won't have to constantly pick up their phone to send messages. A better overall user experience is also provided by the large keyboard and screen.
However, there is one caveat: Even though the web version is useful, it can easily hack into WhatsApp conversations. When you use WhatsApp Web on someone else's computer, this risk arises.
Therefore, even after you close the browser, your WhatsApp account will remain signed in if the computer owner selected the "Keep me signed in" option during login.
The computer owner can then quickly and easily access your data.
If you log out of WhatsApp Web before you leave, this can be avoided.
But as the saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry. The most effective strategy is to only use your personal computer to access WhatsApp's web version.
8.How to Export Your Chats
This one only requires you to physically have access to your smartphone, in contrast to some of the methods we've discussed above, which are extremely complex and others that simply take advantage of voids in the human psyche.
In addition, the hacker does not require much time with your phone; A few seconds is sufficient. They will have sufficient time to export your messages to a location that they can access later. It very well may be anything: a messaging app, cloud storage, or even an email account.
A hacker only needs to move to a specific chat, select the Export chat option, and select the location where they want to move your message history once they have access to your phone.
The answer? Keeping your phone out of the hands of unknowing individuals is the only surefire way to safeguard yourself. In addition, you can enable fingerprint lock on your WhatsApp device. Navigate to Accounts, Privacy, and then Fingerprint lockset the lock activation to Immediately and activate the Unlock with fingerprint option there.
Your fingerprints will now be required to launch WhatsApp each time it is retrieved from inactivity.
Beware of WhatsApp's Security Risks
These are just a few of the ways that hackers can get into WhatsApp. Even though WhatsApp has fixed some of these problems since they were made public, there are still some problems, so it's important to stay on top of things. You need to refresh your understanding of WhatsApp security threats in order to determine whether WhatsApp is safe. Therefore, update yourself regularly!
