Ahmed Shaami
Exploited by Check Point, a cybersecurity research firm issued a press release pointing out to a new vulnerability surfaced in WhatsApp that can potentially allow hackers to edit and manipulate messages. According to the researchers, any message can not only be intercepted but the identity of the sender can also be changed along with changing the content of the message.
The cybersecurity research firm has also posted a video explaining how the vulnerability can be exploited within a few steps.
The attackers can easily manipulate the content of a message, spread false information and make it look as if it is coming from an authentic source.
In the video, the researcher is able to capture an outgoing message from WhatsApp, decrypt it and change the content of the message before encrypting it again and sending it forward.
Watch the video:
The researcher company says it was able to reverse-engineer WhatsApp’s encryption algorithm by intercepting the message, decrypting the data, manipulating the content, encrypting it and then forward it to the original recipient. The company said, they could include whatever they wanted in the message.
The bug can create trouble, spread false, negative rumours and news and could prove fatal.
WhatsApp is yet to respond to the cybersecurity research firm video yet.
