Tag Archive for: WhatsApp

WhatsApp Ensures Secure Android Google Drive Backups


WhatsApp, an immensely popular messaging application available on Android devices, has taken significant measures to enhance security and privacy for its users. As part of this initiative, WhatsApp has introduced end-to-end encryption for its Google Drive backups on Android, ensuring that users’ data remains protected and inaccessible to unauthorized individuals.

Enhanced Security Measures

With the implementation of end-to-end encryption for Google Drive backups, WhatsApp aims to provide its users with an additional layer of security. This encryption ensures that the content of the backups, including text messages, photos, and videos, is securely stored and can only be accessed by the authorized user. Even WhatsApp itself cannot decrypt the data, providing peace of mind to users concerned about their privacy.

Furthermore, this encryption applies to both the backup file stored on Google Drive and the transfer of data during the backup process, furthering the protection of users’ personal information.

Seamless user experience

WhatsApp has taken great care to ensure that implementing end-to-end encryption for Google Drive backups does not compromise the user experience. Backing up and restoring data remains a seamless process with minimal user interference, allowing users to continue enjoying the convenience and accessibility of their backups whilst knowing that their data is being protected.

The encryption does not inhibit users from efficiently navigating, searching, or accessing their backups, ensuring the preservation of their individual preferences and prior usage patterns.

Opting for Encryption

WhatsApp encourages all Android users to enable encryption for their Google Drive backups. By enabling this feature, users can enhance the security of their backups and fortify their privacy, making it significantly more difficult for unauthorized individuals to gain access to their personal data.

To activate encryption, users simply need to navigate to the settings within the WhatsApp application on their Android device and access the ‘Chats’ section. Here, they can select the ‘Chat backup’ option and proceed to toggle on the ‘Include videos’ and ‘Include voice…

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Anyone can tell if you are using WhatsApp on your computer


Anyone who knows your WhatsApp number can figure out if you are only using the mobile app, or its companion web or desktop apps, a security researcher found.

Tal Be’ery, the co-founder and CTO of crypto wallet maker ZenGo, found that it’s possible to determine whether a user on WhatsApp is using more than just the mobile app. Be’ery demonstrated and proved his findings in tests performed with WhatsApp numbers controlled by TechCrunch.

While revealing where users have WhatsApp running is not the most dangerous leak of information, digital security experts agree that it’s not an ideal situation, and, in some cases, it could help hackers target WhatsApp users.

“[It] could be useful for information gathering and plotting an attack,” Runa Sandvik, a digital security expert, told TechCrunch, referring to how hackers could figure out that their target is using WhatsApp on a desktop, which is generally an easier target to compromise than a mobile phone.

“It at least tells you more about the devices they use and how ‘accessible’ their WhatsApp setup may be,” said Sandivk, who is the founder of Granitt, a startup that aims to train at-risk people like journalists, activists and politicians.

Meta’s spokesperson Zade Alsawah told TechCrunch that the company received Be’ery’s research and concluded that the app’s current design “is what users want and expect.”

“It used to be the case that your phone had to be online to receive messages and that provided significant limitations for people. With multi device users can send and receive their personal messages across devices privately with end-to-end encryption — and that’s the direction we’ll continue to take,” Alsawah said in a statement.

Harlo Holmes, the chief information security officer and director of digital security at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said that being able to tell on which devices people are using WhatsApp is a privacy issue.

Referring to the ability to disable read receipts and typing indicators on WhatsApp, Holmes said that WhatsApp should offer a similar opt-out feature for device indicators.

“Presence-related metadata should be protected and opt-in. Similar to geolocation, away…

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pesquisa alerta para malware via Google e WhatsApp


Com a chegada da Black Friday e as festas de fim de ano, um relatório da Netskope Threat Labs decidiu alertar o setor varejista sobre um dos pontos mais importantes para o período: a segurança on-line. Segundo o levantamento, aplicativos do Google, como Google Drive e o Gmail, lideram nessa época quando o assunto é disseminação de malware (softwares maliciosos). O WhatsApp, claro, também tem grande destaque no ranking, completando o pódio dos três principais canais para distribuição de vírus. 

O que você precisa saber: 

  • Muitas das famílias de malware visam roubar informações bancárias, credenciais, informações pessoais e de cartão de crédito; 
  • O Google Drive e o Gmail ocuparam os dois primeiros lugares em termos de distribuição de malware no setor varejista; 
  • Os cavalos de Troia (trojans) são o principal mecanismo de ataque, enganando os usuários para baixarem outras cargas de software malicioso; 
  • O WhatsApp está em terceiro lugar entre os cinco aplicativos mais populares para downloads no varejo — consequentemente, com o download de vírus; 
  • Em média, o uso do WhatsApp neste segmento é três vezes maior do que em outras verticais, ficando atrás apenas do OneDrive, da Microsoft, em termos de uploads e downloads. 

Leia mais! 

Durante a Black Friday e o Natal, tanto os consumidores quanto os varejistas devem redobrar os cuidados porque são as datas de preferência dos cibercriminosos. Os responsáveis pela segurança devem fazer uma análise nas camadas de proteção de suas redes antes destas datas para reduzirem os riscos de ataques cibernéticos. 

Claudio Bannwart, Country Manager da Netskope no Brasil. 

Devido aos três aplicativos serem os mais populares entre usuários, o risco é muito maior. Conforme a pesquisa, se tratando principalmente do WhatsApp, os resultados sugerem que o setor de varejo está usando um aplicativo pessoal de mensagens instantâneas como uma ferramenta de colaboração empresarial, aumentando o risco de roubo ou exposição de dados — uma mensagem…

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WhatsApp Spy Mod Malware Attacked Telegram Users Over 340K Times In Oct – BW Businessworld


A malware named “WhatsApp spy mod” has attacked Telegram users more than 3.4 lakh times in October alone. This malware mainly targeted users who communicate in Arabic and Azeri, according to the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

The malware enters the devices through third-party WhatsApp mod application, which are generally used for additional features such as scheduled messages and customisable options.

As per the report, such mod applications also contain a malicious spyware module that can compromise users personal data. When installed, such mod WhatsApp application allow the malware to run in the background and gather sensitive information from the infected device, including its IMEI number, phone number, country and network codes and more.

The malware can transfer data every five minutes. It can even record audio from the a device’s microphone and steal data from external storage. 

The highest attacks were recorded in Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Turkey and Egypt, although the malware also affected users from other countries, including the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and Germany.


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