Do you know 1 in 4 people in the world now use popular messaging apps like WhatsApp?
And If your one of the users, you will probably be thinking that they are an unbackable way of communicating.
Sadly, the truth is non is that secure and can be easily bypassed.
But how much effort will be required by someone to get inside apps like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, and find your secrets?
To find answers to these questions, let's take a look at the newest study carried out by researchers from renowned organizations.
Findings
Like Telegram, world-renowned messaging apps like WhatsApp are now found out to be
encrypting user's data based on their contacts in smartphones, say researchers.
London, Sep 16 (SocialNews.XYZ)
A new study conducted by the University of Würzburg and the University of Darmstadt found out that favorite messaging apps like Signal, WhatsApp, and Telegram are continually stealing their data through access phone contacts.
It is found that this feature, which is widely known as phone contact discovery, is recently added for new users but can reveal their privacy if given access.
During installation, new users are asked for permission to gain access to contacts to see and add friends, colleges, and family members directly from their address book.
Using advanced protocol systems, the researchers quickly collected data from 10% of all US mobile phone numbers for WhatsApp and 100% for Signal. This way, they easily accessed recent calls, pictures, shared videos, current status, and even the last time of being online.
Not only that, by analyzing the data, they were also able to notice User behavior change statistically. A few of them changed their default security settings, which further expose them to hackers and malware.
Interestingly enough, it was also found that about 50% of WhatsApp users in the US alone didn't even bother to change their profile picture, and about 90% were stuck with their default "About me" text.
And even about 40% of Signal users have multiple accounts on other platforms like WhatsApp with public profile picture.
Using these kinds of behavior changes, various hackers can easily predict their victims' future online activity.
Moreover, by using this data across various social sites, companies can build different behavior profiles in their database, which can then be used to sell more to consumers or even scam them without suspicion.
For Telegram users, the study found that the company can grab sensitive information located in their user's phone address numbers by using the contact recognition technique, especially if they are not registered.
As there aren't any significant restrictions in sign up procedures of many well-known messaging apps, anyone can generate tons of accounts and encrypt these messaging service databases. This creates a serious security concern for billions of WhatsApp, Telegram, or even Signal users worldwide.
Action
After the publication of this study, many known messaging services visited their privacy policy. WhatsApp has ensured that it will further strengthen its protection systems. Even Signal has minimized the number of responses to make the breach difficult.
The researchers also proposed that a new Content recognition system is needed immediately, ensuring the user's security.
The detailed study will be released at the 28th Annual Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS) in 2021.
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