What's app - can it be hacked?

welnik

My dd has this app on her phone app and today, her friends have been saying that her status has an offensive comment. I've checked her phone and the status is the same it has been for the last couple of months.

How has this happened? One of her friends has sent her a screen print to prove it.

Does anyone know what has happened?

[Deleted User]

The account is linked to the phone number... my best guess is that one of her 'mates' got hold of her phone and played a prank

neilwoods

More than likely your dd installed the app and posted that staus months ago, or someone got her phone posted it.

welnik

neilwoods wrote: »

More than likely your dd installed the app and posted that staus months ago, or someone got her phone posted it.

She has a password on her phone so if they picked it up they wouldnt be able to access anything. But what is wierd, is that her status on her phone is different? The status message that is currently being shown is not the same one her friends are seeing.

My dd does not have access to the internet on her phone and so it will only update when she returns home and connects to our wifi. At lunchtime, she had people coming up to her asking "what's with your whatsapp status" and she had no idea what they were talking about.

She said that her phone has been in her inside pocket all day and she has not even looked at it herself.

welnik

Took some time, but I've found an article which says there is a security glitch which makes it very easy to hack someone's status. You just need the telephone number apparently.

It scares the life out of me all this technology. You really have to be one step ahead. Will be changing her telephone number!!

bod1467

Or uninstalling WhatsApp?

[Deleted User]

Doing a bit of reading into it - there are glaring security holes in Whatsapp and there was once a website that let you change other people's status messages

It has been closed down now and some additional security added. I wouldn't use Whatsapp for anything important!

welnik

bod1467 wrote: »

Or uninstalling WhatsApp?

Definitely. Will be deleting it. However, being a nerd, I'm interested to know how it's been done and by whom.

[Deleted User]

welnik wrote: »

Definitely. Will be deleting it. However, being a nerd, I'm interested to know how it's been done and by whom.

Technically, Whatsapp works by sending un-encoded calls to it's servers.. each message is sent with a unique password; but this password can be derived from the phone itself.

Apparently, now the servers check the IP address is from the original device - but it still doesn't sound greatly secure

welnik

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Technically, Whatsapp works by sending un-encoded calls to it's servers.. each message is sent with a unique password; but this password can be derived from the phone itself.

Apparently, now the servers check the IP address is from the original device - but it still doesn't sound greatly secure

The curious thing is, the subject matter of this updated status message was being discussed at school yesterday apparently. So I think someone she knows has done this, but how, is a mystery to me. Thanks for your reply

welnik

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Doing a bit of reading into it - there are glaring security holes in Whatsapp and there was once a website that let you change other people's status messages

It has been closed down now and some additional security added. I wouldn't use Whatsapp for anything important!

I've sent an email to the Whatsapp developers so will see what they have to say about it.