WhatsApp is one of the most used text messaging applications on the planet at the moment, together with Facebook Messenger forming an exceptional duo for Facebook. WhatsApp has 1.2 billion users, just like Facebook Messenger, and this means that hackers are always on the lookout for any kind of method by which they can steal the data of users who use the messaging application on their terminals.
WhatsApp is in this idea the target of a new attack due to a malware called GhostCtrl, which we talked about the other day, affecting many Android terminals. This malware is hidden in an application that resembles WhatsApp and upon opening it infects any of the terminals on which it is installed, but the condition is that they run the Android operating system.
WhatsApp is used as a method of spreading malware due to the fact that it is an application used by extremely many people at the moment. Hiding the malware in an application that has a similar design and name to WhatsApp allows the hacker behind it to infect as many terminals as possible and steal as much data as possible from victims who don't know what's going on .
WhatsApp - the dangerous virus spread globally
WhatsApp practically involuntarily contributes to the distribution of an extremely dangerous malware, which is capable of stealing contacts, messages, photos, video clips, and anything from Android terminals. The GhostCtrl malware hidden in an application similar to that of WhatsApp is also capable of filming infected victims and sending the videos to hackers, but without the victim knowing that this is happening in the background.
WhatsApp, the company that developed the application with the same name, can do absolutely nothing to protect users, because it is not the one that distributes this application. WhatsApp cannot even block these people's access to the network to warn them that they are infected, so that users who wanted to have conversations with their friends, become prisoners of hackers who can steal any kind of data from their terminals.
"A TERRIFYING new form of malware has been discovered masquerading as the popular messaging client WhatsApp. The virus steals an extraordinary amount of data from the victim's device, including call logs, text messages, contacts, phone numbers, location, and browser history."
WhatsApp is frequently the target of attacks of this kind, or is used for the mass distribution of fake news, and this is because there are a lot of naive people willing to believe everything. WhatsApp is far too popular and well-known to be ignored by hackers, so attacks of this kind will continue and, of course, without ordinary users being able to protect themselves in one way or another against those of bad faith.
