It seemed that in WhatsApp everything was going smoothly after the latest updates and the discovery of new enhancements to come, but again a security flaw again overshadows the history of this messaging application. This time it is a important bug detected only in the iPhone version A hole through which third parties can sneak into the most widely used messaging application in the world and steal a user's conversations and messages
The surprising thing about this case is that the vulnerability directly affects the privacy of the user, being able to collect all the information from their conversations And, as if that were not enough, this bug has been discovered by a 19-year-old Moroccan man interested in security and an engineering student IT at Al Akhawayn University His name is Ahmed Lekssays and he only needs a iPhone and a computer with operating system Lynux to get the contact list of said terminal and all its chats
This vulnerability appears to only affect terminals iPhone, being a application problem message, which would allow third-party access provided you have the appropriate knowledge.According to Lekssays, he has been able to access information from several terminals, even though they have password protection Something that has not been corrected in the latest updates of WhatsApp, and that continues to allow the theft of private information from terminals: both contacts , such as the contents of messages.
A point that must be highlighted is that, for more than a year, WhatsApp ensures encrypt all messages your users send from iPhone A user-to-user protection that prevents third parties from intercepting conversations and decrypting their content However, it seems of little help in the security hole found by this young man, where it is possible to collect all messages and know their content without any kind of of trouble.
The young student has already reported to WhatsApp, although no kind of has yet happened official announcement (something already customary by this company), nor has a new update been received to solve the problem. Something that their engineers will surely be working on. And it is that few security holes discovered in WhatsApp suppose such a direct and serious attack against the privacy of users
At the moment we can only wait for a new version of WhatsApp that solves this problem. In the meantime, it is recommended to avoid allowing other people to manipulate the user's mobile phone, knowing that it is necessary to use a computer and of the necessary knowledge to take advantage of this security breach.For his part, Ahmed Lekssay will continue to investigate these and other application problems And it is that It is not the first time that it has found a bug in an iPhone application. It has already done this before with a problem in the Twitter application, allowing access and control of other user accounts. A young man who promises in the world of computer security, and who will make the hairs of more than one user stand on end
