WhatsApp accounts are super easy to hack: Protect yourself now

(Prototype credit: NurPhoto / Getty Images)

Your WhatsApp account can exist totally stolen equally long as your assailant knows your number and can take a quick glance at your phone's screen.

Your phone doesn't demand to be unlocked, they don't need your WhatsApp password or your e-mail address, and they'll probably get an archive of all their WhatsApp chats and call logs equally well in one case they've hijacked the business relationship.

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This assail would easily piece of work against co-workers, roommates, spouses, classmates so on. It would fifty-fifty work against someone yous're having lunch or coffee with, or your boss.

All your target needs is for you to get out your phone alone for a few seconds, such as when you go to the bathroom.

ESET security researcher Jake Moore walked united states of america through this process in a blog post today (April xx), and honestly, information technology seemed too good to exist true. But we tried it ourselves, and much to our horror, it totally worked.

At this bespeak, we would unremarkably tell you to protect yourself with i of the best password managers or some of the best antivirus software. Simply this rather ridiculous security hole doesn't involve passwords or malware.

Fortunately, there'south any easy way to avert this kind of assault: Yous need to enable a PIN on your WhatsApp account, 1 that y'all'll need to enter when porting your account to a new phone. You might want to likewise disable text-message previews, although we know that'due south totally inconvenient.

How this attack works

Moore's method is ridiculously like shooting fish in a barrel. Here are the steps someone needs to accept to steal your WhatsApp account.

ane. Install WhatsApp on a telephone where it's non already installed.

2. Wait for your target to walk abroad from their own phone.

3. When WhatsApp asks y'all for your phone number, blazon in your target's number instead.

4. WhatsApp will text a six-digit 1-time-employ confirmation lawmaking to your target'southward phone.

5. If your target's telephone has text-bulletin previews enabled -- and about all phones, iOS or Android, do -- then the confirmation code will appear as a preview on their phone'southward screen.

6. Type in confirmation lawmaking in the WhatsApp on your phone.

The message you'll see when moving WhatsApp to a new Android phone. — (Image credit: Future)

It took united states of america 10 seconds to do this on two phones we ain. We didn't need to unlock the beginning device to see the confirmation code, because it popped up on the lockscreen. The trickiest part was memorizing it, because it was only onscreen for a couple of seconds.

Because a WhatsApp account can simply exist running on a single phone, the account was transferred from ane to the other. If you were doing this to someone else, they would lose access to their own business relationship.

Following the transfer, we were prompted to port all the data that WhatsApp had backed up to Google Drive (or iCloud) to the new phone. Since we want to move the account back to the first phone, we didn't do that.

But Moore did, and he was able to view all the archived chats of a co-worker whose account he stole using this message. (He had her consent to do so, and restored her business relationship on her telephone one time his experiment was done.)

How to protect your WhatsApp account

Needless to say, you exercise not want someone else stealing your WhatsApp account. The best fashion to avoid this is to add a Pin to your business relationship.

WhatsApp calls this 2-pace verification, which it is, just that's not to be confused with two-factor hallmark (2FA). WhatsApp's rather lame implementation of 2FA is what got u.s. into trouble here in the offset place.

Anyhow, yous simply need to go into your WhatsApp settings, tap Account, then tap Two-Footstep Verification. You'll exist prompted to create a six-digit PIN that you'll need to enter again side by side time your port your WhatsApp account to a new phone.

You'll also probably want to enter an email address that will serve as a failsafe in case your forget that Pivot.

Moore suggests turning off SMS-message previews on your lockscreen, which is probably a good idea in theory. But it'southward going to make using your telephone a lot less convenient.

However, we practise agree that you should never leave your phone unattended when you're out of the business firm -- or even while in the house if you don't trust your roommates.

Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom's Guide focused on security and privacy. He has also been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul driver, code monkey and video editor. He's been rooting around in the information-security space for more than than 15 years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom's Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown up in random TV news spots and fifty-fifty moderated a console discussion at the CEDIA habitation-technology conference. You can follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/whatsapp-account-hijack

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WhatsApp accounts are super easy to hack: Protect yourself now