Whatsapp | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

It seems like Facebook-owned popular messaging service WhatsApp is blocking links to rival messaging applications – at least Telegram app  for now. Telegram users are noticing that WhatsApp is blocking any links to the privacy-oriented messaging service Telegram.me. Although users are free to send or receive Telegram links on WhatsApp, the links appear as non-clickable that you cannot copy or forward. This strange behavior was first noticed this morning by Telegram users over on Reddit. The URLs – which are generally automatically made clickable – still appeared as plain text messages, but they didn't register as hyperlinks, blocking users from copying or forwarding them to other users or other apps. Read Also: How to Auto-BackUp Your WhatsApp Data to Google Drive with Encryption . In general, this odd behavior is done with malicious URLs such as malware or spam. The Culprit However, this strange behavior was not exhibited on every device. Only W

What if your phone suddenly slips into a bathtub? Maybe you'll end up losing all your important data, more specifically, your WhatsApp photos, videos, Voice Notes and Chat Data that flows through your chats. Sounds scary, isn't it?  But, now you need not worry if your phone suddenly died or broke – Thanks to the new integration to your favorite messaging app WhatsApp with Google Drive. Google and Facebook announced a partnership that will bring Google Drive integration to WhatsApp for Android, allowing you to automatically backup all your chat messages and multimedia content regularly to the cloud. BackUp Your WhatsApp Data to Google Drive With Google Drive integration, you can create a private backup of your: Chat History Voice Messages Photos Videos …to "keep your memory safe," Google says. You can also decide to backup your WhatsApp data: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Not at All. Data BackUp and Recovery with Enc

Identities now transcend human boundaries. Within each line of code and every API call lies a non-human identity. These entities act as programmatic access keys, enabling authentication and facilitating interactions among systems and services, which are essential for every API call, database query, or storage account access. As we depend on multi-factor authentication and passwords to safeguard human identities, a pressing question arises: How do we guarantee the security and integrity of these non-human counterparts? How do we authenticate, authorize, and regulate access for entities devoid of life but crucial for the functioning of critical systems? Let's break it down. The challenge Imagine a cloud-native application as a bustling metropolis of tiny neighborhoods known as microservices, all neatly packed into containers. These microservices function akin to diligent worker bees, each diligently performing its designated task, be it processing data, verifying credentials, or

After rolling out WhatsApp's Free Voice Calling feature for Android users late last month, the widely popular messaging service has started to roll out the feature to iOS users. Now iOS users can enjoy making free voice calls through WhatsApp, as the new version of the messenger is now live in the iOS App Store with support to calling. WhatsApp calling feature allows you to call your friends and family anywhere in the world for free as long as you have a Wi-Fi network or a working data plan on your registered number. The full description of the WhatsApp Calling feature on the App Store page reads: " Call your friends and family using WhatsApp for free, even if they are in another country. WhatsApp calls use your phone's Internet connection rather than your cellular plan's voice minutes (Data charges may apply) Note: WhatsApp Calling is rolling out slowly over the next several weeks. " The last line indicates that the feature, so far, is not actually a

Are you looking for methods on how to run two WhatsApp accounts in one phone, or how to use 2 WhatsApp in 1 phone? In this tutorial, we have shared various techniques that allow mobile users to run multiple or dual WhatsApp accounts in one single phone. WhatsApp is one of the most popular and commonly used Instant messaging apps these days, and due to its simplicity and easy-to-use interface, users are able to use it without any hassle. WhatsApp lets its users send and receive messages that are end-to-end encrypted so that only you and the person you're communicating with can read the content of the message, and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp. Each and everything on WhatsApp comes quite handy, but what is the most disturbing part that you come across? For me it is... How to install 2 WhatsApp accounts in 1 Android smartphone? If you have a dual SIM smartphone, you might be willing to enjoy two separate WhatsApp accounts for your two different phone number. Is

Is Facebook planning to integrate WhatsApp Messenger into its ' Facebook for Android ' app? Yes, this might be possible soon. According to latest rumours, Facebook is reportedly working on it. The social network giant, Facebook has begun testing a new feature in its Facebook app for Android that includes the first integration of WhatsApp Messenger, according to a blogger. WHATSAPP INTEGRATION INTO FACEBOOK APP According to this update, a year after of acquiring WhatsApp Messenger, Facebook has only added a 'Send' button with the WhatsApp icon. This WhatsApp ' send ' will work as part of the status actions options that appear under each status update. It means that Facebook for Android users soon may have this particular version of Facebook app with a dedicated WhatsApp button that would allow an Android user to share posts, status and anything else directly through WhatsApp by just clicking the Share button. If rumours are true, th

While WhatsApp is very reserved to its new calling feature, cyber scammers are targeting WhatsApp users across the world by circulating fake messages inviting users to activate the new ' WhatsApp calling feature for Android'  that infects their smartphones with malicious apps. If you receive an invitation message from any of your friend saying, "Hey, I'm inviting you to try WhatsApp Free Voice Calling feature, click here to activate now —> https://WhatsappCalling.com" ,  BEWARE! It is a Scam . The popular messaging app has begun rolling out its much-awaited Free Voice Calling feature — similar to other instant messaging apps like Skype and Viber — to Android users which allows users to make voice calls using Internet. However, for now, the free WhatsApp calling feature is invite-only and only appears to work for people running the latest version of WhatsApp app for Android on a Google Nexus 5 phone running the latest Android 5.0.1 Lollipop . H

It's been a long time coming, but now the users of Firefox and Opera browsers don't need to rely on the Chrome browser to access WhatsApp Web client, as the most popular smartphone messaging service has announced that the Web-based version of its service now works on Firefox and Opera web browsers   too. WHATSAPP WEB AVAILABLE FOR OPERA & FIREFOX Almost a month ago, WhatsApp launched the web client of its service but the access was limited only to the Google Chrome users. Now, the company is giving more choices to desktop users by launching WhatsApp Web Today for Opera and Firefox browsers , though you'll still have to wait a little long if you're a Safari user. WhatsApp Web is nothing than an extension of the core mobile WhatsApp application. It syncs conversations from your smartphone devices to your PCs, with everything stored on the mobile device itself. HOW TO USE WHATSAPP ON PC/DESKTOP In order to install WhatsApp web in your PC or laptop running

Cybercriminals are known to take advantage of everything that captures public attention in order to spread malware, and the recently launched web client of the most popular WhatsApp messaging application seems to be their next target. Last month, the messaging giant WhatsApp, with 700 million users worldwide, finally launched its web client to the public. The feature is called " WhatsApp Web ," which gives its users the ability to read and send messages directly from their web browsers. FAKE WHATSAPP WEB SPREADING BANKING TROJANS However, malicious hackers have taken the advantage of the latest WhatsApp Web and have started fooling users all over the world with fake downloads masquerading as a desktop variant of the WhatsApp mobile application. Security researchers at Kaspersky Labs have spotted a seemingly genuine WhatsApp Web for Windows in spam campaign available for fake download that actually spreads financial malware Trojans to the systems worldwide.

In spite of all the things smartphones can do, messaging remains one of the most popular activities. Popular messaging apps like WhatsApp , Viber, WeChat  support text messages, voice calls, photo & video sharing features, but there is no provision for sharing every file types on these amazing messengers. But, some or the other day, we all got struck into an awkward situation where we have to share PDF, apk or zip files with our friends while chatting. However using any other 3rd-party file sharing services, we can share image, video, audio, zip files or any other file type with our friends, but it would be a lengthy process and sometimes require to use computer. Gone are the days when you relied on your computer to get all of your work done. Telegram Messenger , the most popular and ultra secure messaging application, is now offering file sharing feature that allows its users to share large files and documents (up to 1.5GB) securely . Telegram is a messaging a

WhatsApp is again in news but this time not for any security holes, but for its all new and, of course, much-awaited Free Voice Calling feature — similar to other instant messaging apps like Skype and Viber allow users to make voice calls using Internet. After launching its much-awaited Web client (dubbed WhatsApp Web ) to Android users, the most popular mobile messaging application WhatsApp has started rolling out the promised free voice calling feature, and this time again to Android users first. Late last night, some screenshots of WhatsApp's new voice calling feature appeared on Reddit. Reportedly, this new feature will allow WhatsApp users to make free voice calls to their online pals by simply tapping your phone icon to call their WhatsApp friends. The report broke when a Reddit user ( pradnesh07 ) received a WhatsApp call from a friend, and this is how the feature get activated. The free voice calling feature, for now, seems to be invite-only. So, if you still have to

The most popular smartphone messaging service WhatsApp is now able to communicate with friends from their PC. No Rumours at all !! Enjoy WhatsApp from your desktop from now on. Last month, it was leaked that Whatsapp was working on a web client and finally from today they are introducing it to the public. The feature is called " WhatsApp Web ," which gives its users the ability to read and send messages directly from their web browsers. HOW TO USE WHATSAPP ON PC/DESKTOP Interested WhatsApp users simply need to open Chrome and navigate to https://web.whatsapp.com A QR code will appear on the web page, which must be scanned using WhatsApp mobile application to activate the service. By scanning the  QR code  that appears, users will automatically have paired their mobile WhatsApp with the WhatsApp web client, as shown.  WhatsApp Web requires that you install and run the latest Whatsapp version of the Android app on your phone. The feature currently works on

Are you one of those victims whose WhatsApp app has recently been banned?? Then you must have installed a 3rd-party version of WhatsApp client, like WhatsAppMD or Whatsapp PLUS in your mobile phone for sure. Reportedly after 12 AM IST on 21st January 2015 , WhatsApp, the widely popular messaging application, has started temporarily banning users for 24 Hours who are currently using any third-party WhatsApp clients and are being directed to download the official app on the Play Store instead. Just in last few hours, large number of users have started complaining on Social media websites that they are being banned from the messaging service for 24 hours. Though the ban is temporary and the users facing the issue now could access their app after the period of 24 hours. In an attempt to clear up why this is happening, Whatsapp team explained via its FAQ website , that it is against 'Terms of Service' to use WhatsApp Plus or any other 3rd-party unofficial app. Why am

Several reports from the popular news websites had suggested that WhatsApp , the widely popular messaging application, is working on a new version of its instant messaging client, called  WhatsApp PLUS , in order to provide its users a lot of handy new features. However the news seems to be completely fake!! WhatsApp Plus has already been launched a long ago and is not at all genuine as it is not associated with the Facebook-owned WhatsApp. Many users claimed to have already used WhatsApp Plus before. The latest news reports insist that WhatsApp Plus will bring 700 new themes and more number of emoticons, as well as will provide users with an option to change the font, and color among other things in an attempt to make the app look and feel more personalized. Moreover, the app will provide better privacy compared to the existing one. But, here you need to have a second thought. If we talk about better privacy, the only genuine report about WhatsApp came late last year,

The terrible terrorist attacks in France forced the British Prime Minister David Cameron to consider banning the popular encrypted online messaging apps like Snapchat , CryptoCat ,  WhatsApp and Apple's iMessage unless the companies don't give the UK government backdoor access to their encrypted communications. Speaking at a public event in the UK this morning, Cameron said that if he wins the next election and re-elected, he would seek to ban the encrypted communication apps as part of his plans for new surveillance powers in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris . The British Prime Minister said the Paris terror attacks, including the one last week on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, outlined the need for greater access on the encrypted communications. In his remarks, the attacks were aimed at messaging apps that encrypt messages to secure users' communications. " The attacks in Paris demonstrated the scale of the threat that we face and th

A Vulnerability has been discovered in the wildly popular messaging app WhatsApp , which allows anyone to remotely crash WhatsApp just by sending a specially crafted message, two security researchers reported ' The Hacker News '. Two India based independent security researchers, Indrajeet Bhuyan and Saurav Kar, both 17-year old teenagers demonstrated the WhatsApp Message Handler vulnerability to one of our security analyst. In a video demonstration, they showed that how a 2000 words (2kb in size) message in special character set can crash Whatsapp messenger app. Previous it was discovered that sending a huge message ( greater than 7mb in size) on Whatsapp could crash victim device and app immediately, but using this new exploit attacker only need to send a very small size (approx 2kb) message to the victim. The worried impact of the vulnerability is that the user who received the specially crafted message will have to delete his/her whole conversation and start a fresh

Good news for all Privacy Lovers!! Finally the wildly popular messaging app WhatsApp has made end-to-end encryption a default feature, stepping a way forward for the online privacy of its users around the world. WhatsApp , most popular messaging app with 600 Million users as of October 2014, has partnered with Open Whisper Systems to boost its privacy and security by implementing strong end-to-end encryption on all text messages. The strong end-to-end encryption here means that even Mark Zuckerberg himself can't pry into your conversations, even if asked by law enforcement officials. The app maker describe this move as the " largest deployment of end-to-end encryption ever ." The Open Whisper System is a non-profit software organisation started by security researcher Moxie Marlinspike, who is behind the development of TextSecure app used for encryption. Over the past three years, his team has been in the process of developing a 'modern, open source

There's a good news for app developers. On Wednesday at Twitter's first annual developer conference Flight, the company announced a new tool for developers which will allow users to log-in to mobile applications using their phone numbers rather than a traditional username and password combinations. SAY NO TO PASSWORD The service will be called Digits, aimed at application developers looking for an easier, password-free login option for their mobile applications  – in a similar way to Snapchat , WhatsApp and Viber that rely only on verified users' mobile numbers for sign-in, rather than the traditional ID and password combination. " This is an entirely new native mobile sign up service that makes mobile-first sign-up frictionless, and creates an identity relationship entirely between you and your users ," said Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, speaking at the Twitter Flight developer conference in San Francisco. DEVELOPERS DON'T TRUST TWITTER On one hand, where o

If you are using WhatsApp to chit-chat with your friends or relatives, then you should be careful about sharing your location with them using WhatsApp 'Location Share' feature. No doubt, WhatsApp communication between your phone and company's server is now encrypted with SSL, which means whatever you are sharing with your friends, is secured from the man-in-the-middle attacks . But the extremely popular instant messaging service for Smartphones that delivers more than 1 billion messages per day has another serious security issue. According to Researchers at UNH Cyber Forensics Research & Education Group , WhatsApp location sharing service could expose your location to hackers or Spy Agencies. While sharing the location on WhatsApp users need to first locate themselves on Google Map within the app window, as shown:  Once selected, WhatsApp fetches the location and thumbnail (an image) from the Google Map service to share it as the message icon, but unfortunately Wh

With revelations of NSA spying and some of the most jaw-dropping surveillance leaks, many people feel unencrypted and central-server service is bad in most of the cases, but end-to-end encryption can be used to reduce this problem. Worldwide Government surveillance raises privacy concerns and acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook also made us think about the security concern with chat applications as well; though it was not so secure previously. People who care about having their SMS and Instant messages protected from prying eyes, now they can use end-to-end encrypted services, like  TextSecure .  It is a free Android-based messaging app, completly open-source , easy to use and designed with privacy in mind. Encrypting the stored data on the servers is as important as transferring data over an encrypted connection, but the most important factor of the encryption is that ' who has the decryption key '. If the company has the keys, then Government could snoop through your fi