Hackers Steal Your Conversations on WhatsApp for Android

From a security view this was expected to happen after Facebook acquired WhatsApp for crazy $19 billion – as I’ve written about here.

A couple of days ago TechCrunch wrote about a vulnerability in WhatsApp encryption that could allow another app to access and read all for a user’s chat conversation with it. Here how it works:

“WhatsApp for Android stores conversations on the phone’s SD card, which is accessible by many other apps on the phone as long as the user gives those apps the permissions they ask for (many apps ask for full access to the phone). This is an infrastructure issue for Android more than a gaping security flaw on the part of WhatsApp. From there, a malicious app could access the WhatsApp conversation database. Savvy users will note that this is hardly a hack but more of a problem with Android’s data sandboxing system.”

It’s actually not a proper hack, more an Android weakness, but still hackers are able to access your conversations. Due to this, there has been a lot of attention on messaging and security, and some messaging apps with security (in some way or another) are now showing up – and expected to get traction and attention.

You can read the rest of the article here. If you want to know what the ten most popular messaging apps in the world are right now, I’ve written a micropost about it here.

Lastly, Computerworld wrote the other day that encrypted communications is expected to take center stage at Cebit 2014 in Germany. Here’s what they say:

“The first Cebit trade show in the post-Snowden era will focus on security, showing off locally developed bug-proof phones and messaging systems, as well as the ability to protect mobile devices using smartcards.”

Read it here. And this is not the last word on messaging apps and security from the world – or me.