Israeli cybersecurity firm discovers flaw that enables fake WhatsApp messages
The vulnerability makes it possible for a hacker ‘to intercept and manipulate messages sent by those in a group or private conversation’, says CheckPoint
Paris — Researchers at an Israeli cybersecurity firm say they have found a flaw in WhatsApp that could allow hackers to modify and send fake messages in the popular social messaging app. The vulnerability could make it possible for a hacker "to intercept and manipulate messages sent by those in a group or private conversation" as well as "create and spread misinformation", CheckPoint said on Wednesday. The Facebook-owned company is coming under increasing scrutiny as a means of spreading misinformation, due to its popularity and convenience for forwarding messages to groups. In July WhatsApp announced limits on forwarding messages, in response to threats by the Indian government to take action. That followed the killings of more than 20 people by crazed mobs, after they were accused of child kidnapping and other crimes in viral messages circulated wildly on WhatsApp. WhatsApp said on Wednesday: "We carefully reviewed this issue and it’s the equivalent of altering an e-mail to make i...
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