The Facebook-owned company has come up with several measures to curb this menace but has still fallen short of completely curbing it.

WhatsApp was caught up in the midst of several incidences of violence that occurred in India during 20. The Media File Jacking threat is especially concerning in light of the common perception that the new generation of IM apps is immune to content manipulation and privacy risks, thanks to the utilisation of security mechanisms such as end-to-end encryption.įraud and fake news: In India, WhatsApp has come under the government's scanner for spreading fake news and misinformation. The vulnerability stemmed from how media files are stored in WhatsApp. Hacker can alter photos and videos: A security flaw in WhatsApp has come to light that allows potential hackers to alter the image, audio or video files. WhatsApp had recently signed a pact with Google to allow its users to store messages on the search giants' cloud storage offering. However, that encryption does not work if the data is stored as a backup on Google Drive. The best way to avoid such malware is to use apps and services only from the official sources.īackup messages are not encrypted: WhatsApp has made loud noises about end-to-end encryption that ensures that only you and the person you're communicating with can read what's sent.

This is just one of the possible ways the malware can use the affected device to send money back to the hackers, as per a typical pay-per-click system. The malware is capable of hiding its icon from the phone's launcher and can pose as WhatsApp to serve advertisements. Malware threats: WhatsApp users have often been at the receiving end of malware threats via an infected link or file but recently a new malware called 'Agent Smith' has been spreading that alters WhatsApp and replaces it with a malicious update that serves ads.

Whatsapp app safe