WhatsApp Bug Crashing the App, Deleting Group Chats

There has been a new vulnerability discovered in WhatsApp that allows malicious users to crash the app for all the members of a group chat. Also, it deletes the chat history.

Check Point, a cyber intelligence company has developed a tool that can create messages that are capable of breaking WhatsApp for all group members. It forces them to reinstall the app.

Also, once the app is reinstalled the users affected are not able to return back to the group chat or even read past messages send within it. The only choice left is to either remove the group or else the app will again crash.

Check Point’s researchers Dikla Barda, Roman Zaikin and Yaara Shriki said, “In WhatsApp, there are many important groups with valuable content. If an attacker uses this technique and crashes one of these groups all chat history will be gone and further communication would be impossible.

Adding, “The impact of this vulnerability is potentially tremendous since WhatsApp is the main communication service for many people. Thus, the bug compromises the availability of the app which is crucial for our daily activities.”

Also read: 2020 to be the End of WhatsApp on Millions of Devices

In order to be protected from this bug ensure that WhatsApp is updated to the latest version.

Also visit Settings > Account > Privacy > Groups’ to see the available settings. You can stop strangers from adding you to groups by selecting ‘My contacts’ in the privacy group setting so that only your contacts would be able to add you to a group. Also, you can select ‘My contacts except’, an option that prevents certain contacts from adding you to a group.

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