WhatsApp has long been a symbol of some kind of reliability problems or leaks. And again, data leaks through it, but this time the messaging service itself is not to blame. From this, I, even more, want to pay attention to the situation and tell how users themselves are the cause of leaks. Interestingly, according to experts in the field of computer security, the phishing campaign is currently aimed at users of this particular application and does not affect those who use something else. Such selectivity seems a little strange, but let’s try to understand what is happening.
WhatsApp is dangerous already because it is used by almost everyone.
Threat to WhatsApp users
It all starts with the fact that the victim will receive an email allegedly sent by members of the WhatsApp team. This email claims that you received some kind of voice message. Interestingly, hackers assign themselves several verified addresses so that their messages calmly pass through the spam filters of email clients.
The email sent by the hackers contains a “play” button that prompts users to listen to the message. To encourage victims to click, hackers demonstrate additional information, such as the duration of the recording. The essence of all this is to awaken interest in you and make you click on the play button.
As soon as the user clicks this button, they are automatically redirected to the malicious website. This website will ask you to click “Allow” to confirm that you are not a robot. To many, this seems like a rather banal procedure and they agree to such actions. As a result, attackers can immediately begin to bombard your browser with spam, consisting of malicious links, advertising, adult sites and the like. That is, they can immediately begin to receive income. Some smartphone apps also work. They are even on Google Play, and we have already said that you should not blindly install everything in a row and assume that the censors have looked at everything.
WhatsApp can also be dangerous, but right now it’s not to blame.
How Hackers Attack Your Computer
Then, either in addition to or instead of a wave of spam (if they decide to act more cautiously), hackers will take the opportunity to install dangerous malware on your computer. Such Trojans, once installed on your computer, will capture all your data. According to Armorblox, the malware extracts data stored on the hard drive or credentials (password and username) from digital wallets.
Thanks to this information, hackers can easily seize cryptocurrencies stored in wallets, or simply gain access to your banking data. However, you can steal other data that is stored on the computer. For example, social media accounts, bank card numbers, and accounts on various sites. You can use all this in different ways, but the main thing is that the data will be in the hands of intruders.
What are the dangers of hacker attacks
Overall, such attacks are nothing new. Hackers are constantly hunting for user data. Even if it seems that you have nothing to steal, you are mistaken. First, everyone has bank accounts. Secondly, everyone has social networks that can be hacked and send out malicious information on behalf of the owner. Third, every time the login-password bundle leaks, you are one step further away from security.
Through the computer, you can steal almost all the information about us.
In the last paragraph, everything is simple. Most people don’t strain too much and don’t put different passwords on different accounts. It turns out that if your login-password leaks, you can install a bot that will go to all sites and sort through such a combination. With a high degree of probability, somewhere these data will coincide. So you can even steal a Google or Apple account and lock your devices to demand a ransom.
How to protect yourself from hackers
The moral, as usual, is simple. Don’t trust all incoming emails. Hackers chose WhatsApp because almost everyone has it and many of its users are often not very tech-savvy. The message will come to your phone and no one will send it to you by mail. If you see such an email, feel free to delete it!