Anyone who knows your cell phone number can block your WhatsApp account
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Security researchers who deal with the WhatsApp messenger have now discovered a way to block third-party accounts. The mobile phone number is sufficient for this. TECHOLOGY BUTTON asked WhatsApp and revealed how you can protect yourself.
This loophole in WhatsApp affects almost every user. That’s because attackers can take advantage of them very easily. Your WhatsApp account can be locked forever within a very short time. The attacker does not have to be a hacker for this, they simply have to have WhatsApp installed.
Attack on WhatsApp account is destructive
Security researchers Luis Márquez Carpintero and Ernesto Canales Pereña discovered the loophole. That reported the US portal “Forbes”. It does not allow access to personal data or the account. It is therefore of little interest to professional hackers. You can actually simply deactivate someone else’s account with it. The bad thing: private acts of revenge or supposed jokes could cost numerous WhatsApp users their accounts.
This is how the WhatsApp vulnerability works
As already mentioned, a third-party cell phone number connected to WhatsApp is sufficient. With the help of this, the corresponding account can be permanently deactivated. Since security researchers were specifically looking for a loophole like this one, there is good news. The deactivation of third-party WhatsApp accounts is currently not in operation. It is precisely for this reason that we do not want to describe in detail how to exploit this WhatsApp weakness. Rather, we would like to support you so that your account is not deactivated.
Also interesting: 8 WhatsApp rules – one violation and you will be kicked out!
Prevent deactivation of the account
Preventing an attack is more important than knowing the vulnerability. TECHNOLOGY BUTTON has asked WhatsApp and asked whether the problem is already known there. If so, we wanted to know whether steps have been taken to counteract it. A WhatsApp spokeswoman told TECHNOLOGY BUTTON that users should use two-factor authentication with an email address. The WhatsApp customer service team can help users who have this “unlikely problem”. The spokeswoman also added that exploiting the vulnerability would violate WhatsApp’s terms of use.
The latter is of course negligible, as it will probably not prevent anyone from launching an attack. The terms of use therefore do not protect anyone. How “unlikely” the problem really is remains to be seen. A vulnerability that is easy to exploit and cause maximum damage could be devastating. TECHNOLOGY BUTTON would also recommend two-factor authentication. If you have any problems, it is best to contact support . We hope WhatsApp is working to get this problem under control
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