O WhatsApp is involved in yet another major controversy. Some companies are using an application breach to offer user monitoring services, such as finding out which contacts you talk to through the application.
According to the technology company Traced, WhatsApp displays the “online” status of all app accounts without any restrictions, even for contacts outside your calendar. With the information, some companies have started to use the loophole to monitor user activity within the application, which is a “full plate” for stalkers.
Application allows to “stalk” WhatsApp users using only the phone number.Source: Traced
The security company did not disclose the names of the companies offering this type of service, but it did show screenshots showing how the tools work. In addition to knowing when the person was online on WhatsApp, monitoring promises to even uncover cases of betrayal.
“Unraveling” betrayals
As shown in the images, the monitoring platforms only need a phone number to be registered on the platform to start tracking. With everything set up, the service starts scheduling all times that the user was online on WhatsApp.
The platforms promise to uncover cases of betrayal by crossing the monitoring data from two different numbers. If a suspicious user places his or her spouse and other person’s number on the platform, the service indicates when both accounts were online simultaneously, indicating the likelihood of a conversation between the profiles.
Reviews from users who used monitoring apps to spy and “discover” betrayals.Source: Traced
As the entire process is carried out with just a mobile phone number, at no time does the account owner provide consent for monitoring and may never be aware that their information has been tracked. In addition, the companies that provide these services are technically not illegal, since WhatsApp makes the online status of all users public.
So far, WhatsApp has not officially commented on the matter, but there are simple ways for the social network to get around the problem. The easiest way to address the breach would be to provide users with the option to disable online status or else make the information unique to anyone who is added as a contact.
The account monitoring scheme is not the first controversy involving WhatsApp that is linked to a flaw in the construction of the app. Recently, security experts have also discovered a structural breach in the messenger that allows anyone person blocking your account using just the phone number.
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