The privacy-first messenger is the most viable alternative to WhatsApp and is ironically part funded by WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton. Of course, your other option would be to follow Mark Zuckerberg’s reported example and start to use Signal. In the meantime, watch for warnings that someone has requested your verification codes, and if that persists, you should contact WhatsApp Support right away. So, what should you do? You need to enable 2FA to prevent an actual account hijack, and it’s worth including an email address to help in the event that this happens to you. That hack was acknowledged by Facebook but dismissed as an “unlikely problem.” Some 533 million users might now disagree. Back in 2019, I reported on a vulnerability that allowed private user phone numbers to be pulled from Facebook databases at scale using automated bots. Unfortunately, playing down the seriousness of security risks has become the in-house style at Facebook. MORE FROM FORBES Instagram Confirms Security Issue Exposed User Accounts And Phone Numbers-Exclusive By An attacker doesn’t even need a phone number to spoof a new install, a device connected over Wifi will work just fine. Beyond the nuisance factor, there are material advantages in taking someone “off comms.” So, given the widespread use of WhatsApp, this is a security gap that needs plugging. Their response was to play down the risk-but that risk is very real. WhatsApp would not confirm that it plans to fix this vulnerability, despite the fact that it can be easily and anonymously exploited. That doesn’t help any victims but should serve as a warning not to experiment with this vulnerability. What they mean is that if you were to carry out this attack, you would be in violation of their terms of service and would face consequences. The circumstances identified by this researcher would violate our terms of service and we encourage anyone who needs help to email our support team so we can investigate.” In response to the disclosure, a WhatsApp spokesperson told me that “providing an email address with your two-step verification helps our customer service team assist people should they ever encounter this unlikely problem. Logic suggests that the app could verify the phone number itself-WhatsApp admits to collecting device information in its privacy policy. Ironically, this problem comes about given secure messaging being linked only to a phone number, operating “over the top,” with no back-end links to a device’s OS or number. WhatsApp 2FA Enabled On Victim's Phone But Did NOT Prevent Attack WhatsApp / Android Ideally, a move towards being more privacy focused would help protect users from this, as well as forcing people to implement a two-step verification PIN.” “Anyone can type in a phone number to locate the associated account if it exists. “There is no way of opting out of being discovered on WhatsApp,” he warns. This is a much better system and would shut down this vulnerability.Īccording to Moore, this vulnerability has flagged another serious WhatsApp issue. Even more simply, when multi-device access eventually appears, WhatsApp could use the trusted device concept to enable one verified app to verify another. WhatsApp could ensure that an app on a device with 2FA registered can prevent this issue, using 2FA as a circuit breaker. This isn’t complex and should be easily fixed. And this should not work when 2FA is enabled, as was the case on this “victim’s” app. There are many reasons why it might be advantageous to block someone from their go-to messenger. There is no sophistication to this attack-that’s the real issue here and WhatsApp should address it immediately. Remember, they see the same timer as you.Ĭlearly, the combination of this verification architecture, the SMS/code limits and the automated, keyword-based actions triggered by incoming emails is open to abuse. You will need to contact WhatsApp and try to find someone who can help.Įven if the attacker deactivates your phone during the first cycle, they can push you into a second 12-hour countdown if they request and enter codes at the expiration of the first countdown before you get chance. “It’s too late,” the researchers told me. Verification countdown errors on both Attacker's and Victim's Phone After 3rd Attack Cycle WhatsApp / Androidīut unfortunately, your phone is treated the same way as the attacker’s-and so, if the attacker waits until now before emailing WhatsApp Support to deactivate your number, there will be no way for you to reregister WhatsApp on your phone when you are kicked out of your app.
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