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Researchers have found a flaw in WhatsApp that could allow hackers to modify and send fake messages to individuals and groups in the popular social messaging app.
Israeli cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies announced on 8th August that they have found a flaw in WhatsApp that allows attackers and hackers to modify messages and send to different people. CheckPoint indicated that the vulnerability could make it possible for a hacker to intercept and manipulate messages sent by those in a group or private conversation as well as create and spread misinformation.
The Facebook-owned company is under high scrutiny after it was used for spreading misinformation, due to its popularity for forwarding messages to groups. Last month, WhatsApp announced limits on forwarding messages, in response to threats by the Indian government when 20 people were butchered by crazed mobs after being accused of child kidnapping and other crimes in viral messages circulated wildly on WhatsApp.
WhatsApp in response to said, “We carefully reviewed this issue and it’s the equivalent of altering an e-mail to make it look like something a person never wrote.”
WhatsApp said: “This claim has nothing to do with the security of end-to-end encryption, which ensures only the sender and recipient can read messages sent on WhatsApp.”
The social messaging app added that it had recently placed a limit on forwarding content, incorporated a label to forwarded messages, and made a series of changes to group chats in order to tackle the challenge of misinformation.
