Cybercrime activities have seen an increase in their rates by a huge margin, especially in the last few years. As new technology comes in to help people more with their daily activities, with it also come new forms of cybercrimes. People who want to hurt you through the internet will find ways no matter what. The one form where they get to exploit people the most are through these social media apps. It is up to the social media platforms to make their space completely safe from such activities for their users. Recently, it has been reported that the flaws that have been spotted in the Whatsapp app, have given new levels for cyber stalking.
There is no denying in saying that Whatsapp is number one out of all the messaging apps out there and people all around the globe use it. Many users of the app trust the app enough to the level of sharing their most confidential information through the app, but like many apps Whatsapp too have many flaws which at the moment can make the app dangerous for its users. As per the report provided by Traced, cyber stalkers and attackers have apparently found a way through Whatsapp to continue with their hideous crimes. These stalkers and cyber attackers are using Whatsapp’s Online Status Tracker platforms and apps to stalk users and get access to their personal and private information. According to the reports, the trackers can even figure out who the user is in contact with on the app. Traced’s chief technology officer Matt Boddy used Whatsapp’s online status trackers which display the exact time and date of the user when they appeared last online. Cyber stalkers can put in any user’s number on these status tracking websites and apps and they will know when that user came last online on Whatsapp. Traced issued a list of these websites which have such common characteristics but refrained from posting their names as to not promote them indirectly.
Whatsapp has issued a statement talking about this loophole in the app, the social media giant said that they provide a setting to allow people to choose whether to let others view their last seen on Whatsapp or not. The spokesperson from Whatsapp said that to prevent such abuse they work continuously on the app and have banned certain Whatsapp accounts that are linked to these trackers. Whatsapp has also requested Google to remove such apps from the Play Store and take legal action against them as all of these activities go against Whatsapp’s policy. When a user is online on Whatsapp, their profile displays them as online to anyone who has that user in their contacts. This means that information like this can be viewed by anyone and through these Whatsapp status trackers a user’s continuous monitoring can be done by anyone.
However, Whatsapp’s online status feature is found to be the root cause for these cyber-stalking activities and Whatsapp needs to work on this immediately so as to prevent future crimes.
Read next: WhatsApp Can Be Hacked Just by Your Phone Number? The Company Really Needs to Step Up Its Security Game Now
There is no denying in saying that Whatsapp is number one out of all the messaging apps out there and people all around the globe use it. Many users of the app trust the app enough to the level of sharing their most confidential information through the app, but like many apps Whatsapp too have many flaws which at the moment can make the app dangerous for its users. As per the report provided by Traced, cyber stalkers and attackers have apparently found a way through Whatsapp to continue with their hideous crimes. These stalkers and cyber attackers are using Whatsapp’s Online Status Tracker platforms and apps to stalk users and get access to their personal and private information. According to the reports, the trackers can even figure out who the user is in contact with on the app. Traced’s chief technology officer Matt Boddy used Whatsapp’s online status trackers which display the exact time and date of the user when they appeared last online. Cyber stalkers can put in any user’s number on these status tracking websites and apps and they will know when that user came last online on Whatsapp. Traced issued a list of these websites which have such common characteristics but refrained from posting their names as to not promote them indirectly.
Whatsapp has issued a statement talking about this loophole in the app, the social media giant said that they provide a setting to allow people to choose whether to let others view their last seen on Whatsapp or not. The spokesperson from Whatsapp said that to prevent such abuse they work continuously on the app and have banned certain Whatsapp accounts that are linked to these trackers. Whatsapp has also requested Google to remove such apps from the Play Store and take legal action against them as all of these activities go against Whatsapp’s policy. When a user is online on Whatsapp, their profile displays them as online to anyone who has that user in their contacts. This means that information like this can be viewed by anyone and through these Whatsapp status trackers a user’s continuous monitoring can be done by anyone.
However, Whatsapp’s online status feature is found to be the root cause for these cyber-stalking activities and Whatsapp needs to work on this immediately so as to prevent future crimes.
Read next: WhatsApp Can Be Hacked Just by Your Phone Number? The Company Really Needs to Step Up Its Security Game Now
