A Dutch developer has recently revealed that privacy setting on the popular messaging application, Whatsapp can be easily perpetrated through with a simple software. Maikel Zweerink has released a software that allows anyone to see whether a user is online or not, even if they are set to "private".
The developer said
that he released the “Whatsapp Hack”, which
was termed as “WhatsSpy Public” which he used as a proof. This application is a
means to prove that Whatsapp is “broken in terms of privacy”.
The Whatsapp spying
software is fully working and allows anyone with a phone number and not
registered with a Whatsapp account to spy on other users of the instant messaging app. With WhatsSpy, any doubtful person
can read the status or a profile picture, even without an account. This software
can bypass privacy settings and show whether users are online or not.
Zweerink said that
this is not a hack or exploit but rather a proof to show that Whatsapp’s security
has a flaw. The find has acquired the notoriety with the popular Ycombinator “Hacker
News” community. It requires the 'will be hackers' to use specifically abled devices
like a jailbroken iPhone or a rooted Android – a special control which Apple
and Google denies to its users over their devices. It also needs a phone number
which is not registered with Whatsapp or a not used SIM card.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation which is a organization that keeps a
track of how well the messaging applications secure their user’s privacy, had
earlier scored Whatsapp five out of a possible seven.