WhatsApp is one of those applications that are not usually missing from our phones. It is the most popular instant messaging program today. However, that also makes it used by hackers. They can use it to launch a wide variety of attacks and even steal passwords or access personal data. We are going to show you what are some of the main risks and that you can take measures so that they do not affect you.
Keep in mind that on the Internet you can come across many scams of all kinds. We are talking about Phishing attacks, sending malware, fake applications or simply tricking you into thinking that you are talking to someone else. All this can happen to you on WhatsApp, although that does not mean that it is more dangerous than other similar services.
Risks of using WhatsApp
Although WhatsApp has improved a lot in recent years in everything related to security and privacy, that does not mean that there are no risks. For example, they introduced end-to-end message encryption or the ability to hide certain information, such as the status of connected or not.
dangerous messages
The first thing that can happen to you is that you come across dangerous messages. They can be sent very easily and you can even receive them from contacts you trust, like friends or family. The latter occurs since they have been previously attacked. They can send them unintentionally.
These messages could ask you for information, contain a link that takes you to a dangerous page, a file that is actually malware… The range of options is quite wide and it is always a good idea to be alert to messages of this type that may compromise your security and privacy on WhatsApp.
Information theft
They could steal information from you, even without you having to do anything else. Why is this happening? If you have your public profile, simply by being in a WhatsApp group they could see your profile picture, what status you have or your own phone number. That can get exposed without you being able to do much else.
To be more protected, what you can do is limit the information you put in the application. You can also make your profile private. In this way, only those who you have added to your contact list will be able to see your photo or your status and not anyone who simply shares a group with you.
Backup leak
Creating backup copies is important to avoid problems in case a device breaks down, for example. WhatsApp creates backup copies automatically and uploads them to the cloud. The problem is when there is a leak or vulnerability that causes that copy to be exposed on the Internet.
Although security is present, although they are encrypted copies, that does not mean that at any given time we can have problems. It is one more risk that you should count on. However, it will depend more on third-party services and not so much on the user, as it does with other hypothetical problems.
scams
Here we can name many scams that could compromise your security. It can be about supposed offers to buy a product on Amazon very cheap, for example. Also a message indicating that you must do something to receive a package that you are waiting for or even that you send a code that you should have received by SMS.
All of this can seriously compromise your privacy. They could take access to a bank account through codes that you send them, make you download some file that is actually malware, etc. Be very careful with these scams and always keep common sense.
fake apps
Finally, the fake apps. They could send you a supposed WhatsApp update to get improvements or tell you to install a program on the device to achieve some improvement in the system. All of this could be a major scam and they are just trying to sneak in malware without you being aware of it.
If they manage to sneak in a Trojan, for example, they could spy on you. They could see everything you do on your mobile, record your passwords, messages you send on WhatsApp, etc. It is key to always install programs from official sources and not fall into the trap of installing third-party applications that come to you through these means.
In short, as you can see, these are some dangers that you can find when using WhatsApp. This does not mean that it is an insecure application by itself, but it does have to be taken into account that it is a means widely used by hackers to launch attacks and compromise network security.
