Accessing other people's data: WhatsApp has detected a vulnerability

Researchers found a vulnerability in WhatsApp, due to which you can access other people's personal data.

An unexpected problem with confidentiality was discovered in the group chat rooms of Bhutan

The creators of WhatsApp everywhere note that, unlike Facebook, their product has end-to-end encryption.

Some of your most personal moments are shared with WhatsApp, so your messages, photos, videos, voice messages, documents and calls are protected from getting into someone else's hands, "the company's representatives say.

In group chats, there is a limit on the number of people - up to 256. However, new members can still be added using a special invitation link. And as it turned out, this link is fairly easy to find using Google search. Not all groups have links, but in those where they are, anyone who finds a link can join the group. At the same time, new participants in the conversation are not required to indicate the name or otherwise identify themselves.

Researchers from the Lausanne Polytechnic School demonstrated that a person with technical knowledge can easily get data from WhatsApp groups using an old Samsung smartphone that works under scripts and ready-made applications. The WhatsApp application itself works exactly as it was designed.

The researchers found on the Internet lists of popular public groups in WhatsApp, to which they automatically joined using the written algorithm. Within six months, they collected information on 45,794 users from 178 public groups who sent nearly half a million messages. Specialists managed to get phone numbers, images, videos and links, which the participants of the conversation shared. It is important to note that you can only access data published after joining the group.