How to hack whatsapp via wifi
9 Ways Your WhatsApp Messages Can Be Hacked
WhatsApp is a popular and easy to use messaging app. It has some security features, like the use of end-to-end encryption, which tries to keep your messages private. However, as good as these security measures are, WhatsApp still isn't immune to hacks, which can end up compromising the privacy of your messages and contacts.
Don't take our word for it: just go and see how many "How to hack WhatsApp" guides you'll find on the internet if you're persistent enough.
As knowing is half the battle, if we are simply aware of vulnerabilities, we can then take concrete steps to avoid comprising ourselves. To that end, here are a few ways that WhatsApp can be hacked.
1. Remote Code Execution via GIF
In October 2019, security researcher Awakened revealed a vulnerability in WhatsApp that let hackers take control of the app using a GIF image. The hack works by taking advantage of the way WhatsApp processes images when the user opens the Gallery view to send a media file.
When this happens, the app parses the GIF to show a preview of the file. GIF files are special because they have multiple encoded frames. This means that code can be hidden within the image.
If a hacker were to send a malicious GIF to a user, they could compromise the user's entire chat history. The hackers would be able to see who the user had been messaging and what they had been saying. They could also see users' files, photos, and videos sent through WhatsApp.
The vulnerability affected versions of WhatsApp up to 2.19.230 on Android 8.1 and 9. Fortunately, Awakened disclosed the vulnerability responsibly and Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, patched the issue. To keep yourself safe from this problem and similar, you should always keep WhatsApp updated.
2. The Pegasus Voice Call Attack
Another WhatsApp vulnerability discovered in early 2019 was the Pegasus voice call hack.
This scary attack allowed hackers to access a device simply by placing a WhatsApp voice call to their target.
Even if the target didn't answer the call, the attack could still be effective. And the target may not even be aware that malware has been installed on their device.
This worked through a method known as buffer overflow. This is where an attack deliberately puts in so much code into a small buffer that it "overflows" and writes code into a location it shouldn't be able to access. When the hacker can run code in a location that should be secure, they can take malicious steps.
This attack installed an older and well-known piece of spyware called Pegasus. This allowed hackers to collect data on phone calls, messages, photos, and video. It even let them activate devices' cameras and microphones to take recordings.
This vulnerability is applicable on Android, iOS, Windows 10 Mobile, and Tizen devices. It was used by the Israeli firm, NSO Group, for example, which has been accused of spying on Amnesty International staff and other human rights activists. After news of the hack broke, WhatsApp was updated to protect it from this attack.
If you are running WhatsApp version 2.19.134 or earlier on Android or version 2.19.51 or earlier on iOS, then you need to update your app immediately.
Another way you're vulnerable to getting your WhatsApp hacked is through socially engineered attacks, which exploit human psychology to steal information or spread misinformation.
Security firm, Check Point Research, revealed one example of this attack, which they named FakesApp. This allowed people to misuse the quote feature in group chat and to alter the text of another person's reply. Essentially, hackers could plant fake statements that appear to be from other legitimate users.
The researchers could do this by decrypting WhatsApp communications. This allowed them to see data sent between the mobile and the web versions of WhatsApp.
And from here, they could change values in group chats. Then they could impersonate other people, sending messages which appeared to be from them. They could also change the text of replies.
This could be used in worrying ways to spread scams or fake news. Even though the vulnerability was disclosed in 2018, it had still not been patched by the time the researchers spoke at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas in 2019, according to ZNet. It therefore becomes critical that you learn how to recognize WhatsApp scams and keep reminding yourself of these red flags periodically.
4. Media File Jacking
Media File Jacking affects both WhatsApp and Telegram. This attack takes advantage of the way apps receive media files like photos or videos and write those files to a device's external storage.
The attack starts by installing malware hidden inside an apparently harmless app. This can then monitor incoming files for Telegram or WhatsApp. When a new file comes in, the malware may swap out the real file for a fake one.
Symantec, the company that discovered the issue, suggested it could be used to scam people or to spread fake news.
There is a quick fix for this issue, though.
Using WhatsApp, you should look in Settings and go to Chat Settings. Then find the Save to Gallery option and make sure it is set to Off. This will protect you from this vulnerability. However, a true fix for the issue will require app developers to entirely change the way that apps handle media files in the future.
5. Facebook Could Spy on WhatsApp Chats
In an official blog post, WhatsApp asserted that due to its end-to-end encryption, it is impossible for Facebook to read WhatsApp content:
"When you and the people you message are using the latest version of WhatsApp, your messages are encrypted by default, which means you're the only people who can read them. Even as we coordinate more with Facebook in the months ahead, your encrypted messages stay private and no one else can read them. Not WhatsApp, not Facebook, nor anyone else."
However, according to developer Gregorio Zanon, this is not strictly true.
The fact that WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption does not mean all messages are private. On an operating system like iOS 8 and above, apps can access files in a "shared container."
Both the Facebook and WhatsApp apps use the same shared container on devices. And while chats are encrypted when they are sent, they are not necessarily encrypted on the originating device. This means the Facebook app could potentially copy information from WhatsApp.
There is no evidence that Facebook has used shared containers to view private WhatsApp messages. But the potential is there. Even with end-to-end encryption, your messages may not be private from the all-capturing net of Facebook.
6. Paid Third-Party Apps
You'd be surprised how many paid legal apps have sprung up in the market, which solely exist for hacking into secure systems. It's super easy to carry out covert WhatsApp hacks through this method.
In fact, it isn't unheard of for big corporations to work hand-in-hand with oppressive regimes to target activists and journalists; or by cybercriminals, intent on getting your personal information.
Apps like Spyzie and mSPY can easily hack into your WhatsApp account for stealing your private data. All you need to do is purchase the app, install it, and activate it on the target phone. You can then simply sit back and connect to your app dashboard from the web browser, and snoop in on private WhatsApp data like messages, contacts, status, etc. But obviously, we advise against anyone actually doing this!
7. Fake WhatsApp Clones
Using fake website clones to install malware is an old hacking strategy still implemented by cyber criminals all over the world. These clone sites are known as malicious websites.
The hacking tactic has now also been adopted for breaking into Android systems. To carry out a WhatsApp hack on your account, an attacker will first try to install a clone of WhatsApp, which might look strikingly similar to the original app.
Take the case of the WhatsApp Pink scam, for instance. A clone of the original WhatsApp, it claims to change the standard green WhatsApp background to pink.
Here's how it works: an unsuspecting user receives a link to download the WhatsApp Pink app for changing the background color of their app. And even though it really does change the background color of your app to pink, as soon as you install the app, it will start collecting data not just from your WhatsApp but also from everything else stored on your phone.
8. WhatsApp Web
WhatsApp Web is a neat tool for someone who spends most of their day on a PC. It provides the ease of accessibility to WhatsApp users, so they won't have to pick up their phone again and again for messaging. The big screen and keyboard provides an overall better user experience too.
Here's the caveat though. As handy as the web version is, it can be easily used to hack into your WhatsApp chats. This danger arises when you're using the WhatsApp Web on someone else's computer.
So if the owner of the computer has selected the "keep me signed in" box during login, then your WhatsApp account will stay signed-in even after you've closed the browser.
The computer owner can then access your information without much difficulty.
You can avoid this by making sure that you log out from WhatsApp Web before you leave.
But as they say, prevention is better than cure. The best approach is to avoid using anything other than your personal computer for the web version of WhatsApp altogether.
9. Exporting Your Chats
This isn't the traditional method you'd find on the "how to hack someone's WhatsApp" guides. While some of the other methods are really elaborate, and some just capitalize on blank spots in the human psyche, this one simply requires physical access to your smartphone.
And no, the hacker doesn't need a lot of time with your phone, either; just a few seconds is enough. This gives them enough time to export your messages to a location they can later access. It could be anything: an email account, cloud storage, or even a messaging app.
Once a hacker has access to your phone, all they have to do is move to a specific chat, click on the Export chat option and select the location they'd like to move your message history to.
The solution? The ironclad way to protect yourself is to keep your phone away from unfamiliar hands at all times. Furthermore, you have the option to enable fingerprint lock for your WhatsApp. Here's how:
- Head to Accounts > Privacy > Fingerprint lock.
- Toggle the Unlock with fingerprint option on, and set the lock activation to Immediately.
Now, every time your WhatsApp is picked up after inactivity, your fingerprints will be required to launch the app.
Stay Aware of Security Issues in WhatsApp
These are just a few examples of how your WhatsApp can be hacked. While WhatsApp has patched some of these issues since their disclosure, some weak spots persist, so it's important to stay vigilant. To learn more about whether WhatsApp is safe, you need to brush up your knowledge of WhatsApp security threats. Always keep yourself updated!
Is WhatsApp Safe? 5 Scams, Threats, and Security Risks to Know About
WhatsApp, the Meta-owned messaging platform, is one of the world’s most popular messaging apps.
It is estimated that over one billion people use the app, sending over 65 billion messages per day.
It’s no surprise, then, that security concerns, malware threats, and spam have begun to appear on the platform. Here’s everything you need to know about WhatsApp’s most common security issues and scams.
1. WhatsApp Web Malware
WhatsApp’s enormous user base makes it an obvious target for cybercriminals, many of who focus on WhatsApp Web. For years, WhatsApp has allowed you to open a website, or download a desktop app, scan a code with the app on your phone, and use WhatsApp on your computer.
The app stores on phones—the App Store on iOS and Google Play Store on Android—are more carefully regulated than the internet at large. When you search for WhatsApp on those stores, it’s generally clear which app is the official one. That isn’t true of the wider internet.
Criminals, hackers, and scammers have all taken advantage of this. There have been instances of attackers passing off malicious software as WhatsApp desktop applications.
If you are unfortunate enough to have downloaded one of these, the installation can distribute malware or otherwise compromise your computer.
In some cases, hackers were able to install WhatsApp spyware due to a vulnerability.
Others tried a different approach, creating phishing websites to trick you into handing over personal information. Some of these websites masquerade as WhatsApp Web, asking for you to enter your phone number to connect to the service. However, they actually use that number to bombard you with spam or correlate with other leaked or hacked data on the internet.
To be on the safe side, the best way to stay secure is to use only apps and services from official sources. WhatsApp offers a web client for you to use on any computer, known as WhatsApp Web, which you should only access through the WhatsApp website. There are also official apps for Android, iPhone, macOS, and Windows devices that you should use to avoid WhatsApp scams.
Download: WhatsApp for Android | iOS | macOS | Windows (Free)
2.
Unencrypted Backups The messages you send on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted. This means that only your device, and that of the recipient, can decode them. This feature prevents your messages from being intercepted during transmission, even by Meta itself. However, this doesn’t secure the messages once they are decrypted on your device.
WhatsApp allows you to back up your messages and media on Android and iOS. This is an essential feature as it allows you to recover accidentally deleted WhatsApp messages. There is a local backup on your device in addition to a cloud-based backup. On Android, you can back up your WhatsApp data to Google Drive. If you are using an iPhone, then your backup destination is iCloud. These backups contain decrypted messages from your device.
The backup file stored on iCloud or Google Drive is not necessarily encrypted. As this file contains decrypted versions of all your messages, it is theoretically vulnerable and undermines WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption.
As you have no choice in a backup location, you are at the mercy of the cloud providers to keep your data secure. Although no large-scale hacks have affected iCloud or Google Drive to date, that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. There are other means that attackers could use to gain access to your cloud storage accounts, too.
One of the supposed benefits of encryption is, for better or worse, being able to prevent government and law enforcement from accessing your data. As the unencrypted backup is stored on one of two US-based cloud storage providers, all it would take is a warrant, and the government could have unfettered access to your messages.
Thankfully, WhatsApp updated its service to include end-to-end encrypted chat backups. However, this setting is disabled by default. Go to Settings > Chats > Chat Backup > End-to-end Encrypted Backup and select Turn On to secure your WhatsApp backups. You'll need to create a password to protect your backups.
However, remember that you won't be able to access your backups if you forget the password—WhatsApp can't restore it for you.
3. Facebook Data Sharing
Meta (formerly Facebook) has been the subject of much criticism in recent years. One of those criticisms is of the company’s effective market monopoly and anti-competitive actions. Regulators attempt to minimize anti-competitive behavior by evaluating any takeover attempts.
So in 2014, when Meta decided that it wanted to add WhatsApp to the “Meta Family,” the European Union (EU) only approved the deal after Meta assured it that the two companies, and their data, would be kept separate.
It didn’t take long for Meta to go back on this agreement. In 2016, WhatsApp updated its Privacy Policy to allow sharing of data from WhatsApp to Facebook at the time. Although it didn’t reveal the full extent of this data transfer, it included your phone number and your usage data, like when you last used the service. Your WhatsApp messages could be at risk because of this.
Despite assuring users that their data wouldn’t be publicly available on Facebook, the implication was that Meta would instead store it in Facebook’s inaccessible and hidden profile of you. In the years since, Meta has made changes to facilitate this data sharing.
Following the 2016 announcement, you could opt out of the cross-platform data sharing on WhatsApp, although this option was quietly removed sometime later. Then, in 2019, Meta announced plans to merge its messaging platforms. In late 2020, the first stages of this were put in place when the company linked Messenger with Instagram Direct.
In January 2021, Meta released a new data-sharing policy for WhatsApp, mandating the transfer of your information between the messaging app and social network. After users complained, the company then noted that it would limit WhatsApp’s features for anyone who doesn’t opt-in.
As of June 2021, Meta has once again softened these penalties, although it will still encourage users to opt in to the new policies.
4. Hoaxes and Fake News
In recent years, social media companies have been criticized for allowing fake news and misinformation to spread on their platforms. Meta, in particular, has been condemned for its role in spreading misinformation throughout the 2020 US Presidential campaign. WhatsApp has also been subject to those same forces.
Two of the most notable cases have been in India and Brazil. WhatsApp was implicated in the widespread violence that occurred in India during 2017 and 2018. Messages containing details of fabricated child abductions were forwarded and spread across the platform, customized with local information. These messages were widely shared across people’s networks and resulted in the lynching of those accused of these fake crimes.
In Brazil, WhatsApp was the primary source of fake news throughout the 2018 elections. As this kind of misinformation was so easy to spread, business people in Brazil set up companies that created misinformation campaigns against candidates enabled by the fact that WhatsApp is used for both business and personal communication.
They were able to do this as your phone number is your username on WhatsApp, so they purchased lists of phone numbers to target.
Both issues were ongoing through 2018, a year that was infamously terrible for Meta. Digital misinformation is a difficult problem to deal with, but many viewed WhatsApp’s response to these events as apathetic.
However, the company did implement a few changes. WhatsApp put limits on forwarding, so you can only forward to five groups, rather than the previous limit of 250. The company also removed the forwarding shortcut button in a number of regions, too.
Despite these interventions, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, WhatsApp was used to share misinformation about the virus. In April 2020, lockdowns were in place across the world, so people relied upon the internet for news, even more so than usual.
Once again, Meta implemented forwarding limits to prevent the spread of incorrect or false information. Similarly, it worked with authorities and health organizations worldwide to develop WhatsApp chatbots, so people could easily access reliable information on the pandemic.
Both scenarios—the 2018 political events and the COVID-19 pandemic—were affected by the same issues: false information being forwarded to multiple people. Due to this, the forwarding limits are permanent on the platform, which does help but is in no way a silver bullet in fighting fake news.
For many years, WhatsApp’s status feature, a brief line of text, was the only way for you to broadcast what you were doing at the time. This morphed into WhatsApp Status, a clone of the popular Instagram Stories feature.
Instagram is a platform that is designed to be public, although you can make your profile private if you choose. WhatsApp, on the other hand, is a more intimate service used for communicating with friends and family. So, you may assume that sharing a Status on WhatsApp is private, too.
However, that isn’t the case. Anyone in your WhatsApp contacts can view your Status. Fortunately, it is quite easy to control who you share your Status with. Navigate to Settings > Account > Privacy > Status (on Android, tap the three-dot menu in the top right and select Settings > Privacy > Status), and you’ll be shown three privacy choices for your Status updates:
- My contacts
- My contacts except
- Only share with
Despite this simplicity, WhatsApp doesn’t make it clear if your blocked contacts can view your Status.
However, the company has done the sensible thing, and your blocked contacts are unable to view your Status regardless of your privacy settings. As with Instagram Stories, any videos and photos added to your Status will disappear after 24 hours.
Despite the transient nature of the Status feature, remember that anyone who can view your updates can save a copy without your knowledge. WhatsApp doesn't have a built-in feature for saving Status updates, but anyone can do this by taking a screenshot, screen recording, using WhatsApp Status saving apps, and more.
As of writing, WhatsApp doesn't let you know if someone saves your update, so be careful not to share anything sensitive.
Is WhatsApp Safe?
So, is WhatsApp safe to use? WhatsApp is a confusing platform. On the one hand, the company implemented end-to-end encryption in one of the world’s most popular apps, a definite security upside. However, there are many WhatsApp security concerns.
One of the primary issues is that it is owned by Meta and suffers many of the same privacy dangers and misinformation campaigns as its parent company.
Any WhatsApp user can have their account taken away. You don't need to be a hacker to do this
software Soft Security User Internet Internet software Technology
|
Share
There is a flaw in WhatsApp that allows attackers with zero hacking and programming skills to permanently block any user's account. They only need to know their phone number and nothing else, and there is no way to protect themselves from potential blocking. WhatsApp developers are in no hurry to fix the problem.
New bug in WhatsApp
Each WhatsApp user can lose their profile at any second with a minimal chance of recovery.
According to Forbes, it is simply impossible to protect against this, and the attacker will not even need to hack the gadget - he just needs to know the user's phone number, after which he can initiate the procedure for blocking him without the possibility of re-authorization in the system. nine0005
The ability to deprive anyone of using WhatsApp is a consequence of a giant vulnerability discovered in the messenger by information security specialists Luis Carpintero and Ernesto Pereña (Ernesto Canales Pereña). They notified the developers of WhatsApp about their discovery, but they have not yet released a patch that fixes the breach, thereby leaving 2 billion users at risk of losing their account.
WhatsApp does nothing to protect users from blocking their profile
WhatsApp is the most popular instant messenger in the world. According to Statista.com, in terms of the number of monthly active users as of January 2021, with its more than 2 billion, it was ahead of Facebook Messenger (1.
3 billion) and Chinese WeChat (1.21 billion), along with QQ (617 million). WhatsApp has been owned by Facebook since February 2014.
How vulnerability works
Vulnerability in WhatsApp makes it possible to completely block the victim's account and is carried out in two very simple steps, in each of which the perpetrator does not even need hacking or social engineering skills - he will not contact the profile owner at all. nine0005
WhatsApp standard authorization window
At the first stage, an attacker simply needs to install WhatsApp on a smartphone and try to log in using the desired phone number. The messenger will send him an SMS with a confirmation code, and here there is a calculation that the owner of the number will ignore them. After several such attempts, the application on the attacker's device will report too frequent authorization attempts and allow the next one only after 12 hours. At the same time, WhatsApp on the victim’s device will continue to work as before.
nine0005
Notification that authorization was not possible due to an excessive number of attempts
In the second step, the attacker registers a new email address and writes a letter to WhatsApp technical support saying that his account was lost or stolen. He asks to turn it off and indicates the number of the victim. WhatsApp can send an automatic email asking you to write the number again, and the attacker will do it.
Letter to WhatsApp technical support requesting blocking
Next, WhatsApp, without making sure that the real owner of the account wrote to technical support, initiates the blocking procedure. After about an hour, the messenger will suddenly stop working on the victim's device - she will see a message that her number is no longer registered in the system. “It could be because you registered it on another phone. If you haven't done so, verify your phone number to log into your account again," the notification will say. nine0005
WhatsApp response with confirmation of the request
All of this will work even if the user has enabled two-factor authentication. An attempt to request a new code will fail - WhatsApp will allow you to do this only after 12 hours.
Bonus stage and full blocking
If the attacker decides to stop at the second stage, then everything will end up with just the inability of the user to connect to WhatsApp with his number for several hours. After a maximum of 12 hours, the user will be able to regain control over his account and continue working in the messenger exactly until someone wants to repeat the "trick" with the blocking. nine0005
But in fact there is an additional, third stage, leading to a complete blocking of the account.
This stage can actually become the second - the attacker does not have to send a letter to WhatsApp support, he can just wait 12 hours, and then again make several attempts to register someone else's number on his phone. After the third 12-hour blocking, WhatsApp will break, and instead of a timer counting down the time until the next authorization attempt, it will show “-1 second”, moreover, constantly.
This is a malfunction in the messenger, which cannot be bypassed. nine0005
A stuck timer on the phones of the victim (left) and the attacker
This picture will be observed both on the hacker's device and on the victim's smartphone, and as a result, no one else will be able to log in to the messenger using this phone number. The only thing left is to try to contact WhatsApp technical support and look for ways to solve the problem.
WhatsApp does not solve the problem
A Forbes article shedding light on a new WhatsApp issue was published on April 10, 2021. By April 13, 2021, the developers have not released an update to fix it and have not set a release date for it. nine0005
Digitizing offsite debt resolution: how technology is helping banks earn more
IT in banks
Instead, they are preparing to implement a new privacy policy, according to which the messenger will automatically transfer huge amounts of personal data of users to Facebook for better ad targeting.
This policy was intended to be implemented by WhatsApp on February 8, 2021, but was forced to temporarily abandon this idea due to a flurry of criticism. The new date for its entry into force is May 15, 2021, and all those who are not going to agree with it are in for a very serious punishment. nine0005
In February 2021, CNews wrote that those who disagree with the new WhatsApp privacy policy will no longer be able to send and receive text messages. Developers will leave them only voice calls. Moreover, the profiles of those users who stop using WhatsApp and switch to other messengers are guaranteed to be completely deleted.
WhatsApp other issues
WhatsApp is known not only for the fact that it is used by billions of people, but also for the fact that if it appreciates its users, it is far from always. So, for example, in June 2020, it became known that some phone numbers linked to user profiles in WhatsApp had been in the public domain for a long time and even got into Google search results.
In total, with the help of Google, it was possible to find up to the number of about 300 thousand users of the messenger, and this problem was of a global nature. nine0005
WhatsApp is still in first place in terms of the number of users
In November 2019, CNews reported that WhatsApp users were automatically permanently banned for participating in harmless group chats. It turned out to be possible to fall under sanctions for changing the name of the chat to something that would seem to the moderators of the service as something sinister, illegal or malicious.
Which digital products can be purchased with a 50% discount with government support
IT industry support nine0005
At the same time, WhatsApp was in no hurry to fix this failure. The employees of the messenger responded to all requests from the victims about the reasons for blocking that the users themselves violated the rules of the service, and the fault in blocking lies solely with them. As a result, people had to either change their phone number to register a new profile, or go to other services - Telegram, Viber, Signal and others.
- The best rates for Dedicated dedicated servers on the IT marketplace Market.CNews
Elyas Kasmi
Interception of messages how to read whatsapp correspondence
Whatsapp for Android is a free chat app that's fast, simple, and so secure that even the NSA complains about the data being difficult to access and good security. Even if the hackers of such organizations do not always cope with the problem, then what can we say about ordinary users.
Recommended! MultiSetup
The good news is that messages can be accessed in other ways, and we'll talk about a few of them. 
