WhatsApp messages can be intercepted, manipulated

[Super_Sonic]

During a briefing at the annual Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas on August 7, researchers from Israeli security company Check Point revealed how Facebook-owned WhatsApp could be hacked to change the text of a message and the identity of the sender. These vulnerabilities were initially announced last year but WhatsApp has failed to resolve the issues, which remains today.

The flaws could have significant consequences because WhatsApp has about 1.5 billion users, and is used for personal conversations, business communications and political messaging, said Oded Vanunu, Check Point's head of products vulnerability research.

Check Point also launched a tool that would allow users to carry out the manipulations, in order to raise greater awareness of the issue. Facebook responded that they have taken care of the flaws:

"We carefully reviewed this issue a year ago and it is false to suggest there is a vulnerability with the security we provide on WhatsApp," a spokesperson for Facebook Inc., which owns WhatsApp, said in an emailed statement. "The scenario described here is merely the mobile equivalent of altering replies in an email thread to make it look like something a person didn't write. We need to be mindful that addressing concerns raised by these researchers could make WhatsApp less private - such as storing information about the origin of messages."

https://www.speedguide.net/news/whatsapp-messages-can-be-intercepted-manipulated-7022

Read more Here

 

[Johnatan56]

“It’s a vulnerability that allows a malicious user to create fake news and create fraud,” Mr Vanunu explained.

The tool makes it possible to manipulate WhatsApp’s quoting feature to make it look like someone had written something they had not.

“You can completely change what someone says,” Mr Vanunu said. "You can completely manipulate every character in the quote.”

The tool also allows an attacker to change how the sender of the message is identified, making it possible to attribute a comment to a different source.

A third issue highlighted by researchers has been successfully fixed by Facebook. That flaw could trick users into believing they were sending a private message to one person, when in fact their reply went to a more public group.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49273606

I don't know why you link to a forum that then links to the BBC thread (though admittedly you copied the read more).

 

[isie]

I copied another Forum

OMG everyone look i hacked MYBB