Whatsapp, now you even risk losing your account: how to defend yourself

You have to be very careful when using WhatsApp: some vulnerabilities have just been discovered that would allow the entire smartphone to be controlled. There would also be an application with the same appearance that would be fraudulent.

WhatsApp has always been in the crosshairs of hackers and scammers, not least because of its enormous spread around the world: in 2021, it announced that it reached one billion daily active users. The messaging app is running into some trouble after changing its privacy policies early last year.

The Whatsapp app logo seen on a laptop and smartphone screen (EPA photo / IAN LANGSDON).

Now that WhatsApp has enabled communities, many users are unaware that the possibility of being banned from the app has also increased. If the reputation of your profile becomes very low, WhatsApp may indeed take the decision to delete the account and no longer allow us to create a new one.

Whatsapp, here are the vulnerabilities discovered in September

When you write to people you don’t know, you run a greater risk of being blocked or flagged as spam. If the reports become too many, or maybe if we create a fake account, the likely consequence could be that the app permanently blocks our account.

WhatsApp has been repeatedly targeted by hackers and scammers. In 2019, news came out of surveillance software designed by NSO Group spying on smartphones (photo EPA / RITCHIE B. TONGO).

This is not the only pitfall: there are indeed some programs that intentionally have graphics very similar to that of WhatsApp, but they are real malware. This means that, for example, after installing WhatsApp Plus, you risk the secure theft of your data by this software that www.esquire.com indicates as fraudulent.

It’s Not Just the Fraudulent App: What Not to Do With Unknown Accounts

Occasionally, WhatsApp publishes news about some discovered vulnerabilities regarding its application and for which it has prepared updates. It also happened in September, when a serious security issue surfaced in the world’s most used messaging app.

Updates CVE-2022-36934 and CVE-2022-27492 reported that a bug allowed certain malware to be installed by playing videos or participating in video calls with people interested in controlling our smartphone. This made it possible to control the entire mobile phone.