Hack WhatsApp: How Safe Are Your Messages Really | Total Security

As a WhatsApp user, do you have to live in constant fear for your data? Or is it so safe that you don't have to worry?

The idea that someone could hack WhatsApp and read messages or even spy on the whole cell phone should give almost every user of the popular messenger a cold chill. After all, WhatsApp has been in the crosshairs of criticism more than once in the past due to some serious security gaps.

So do WhatsApp users have to live in constant fear for their data? Or is the messenger so secure today that you don't have to worry about your data even without taking special precautions?

WhatsApp Security Gaps Are Always an Issue

One thing can be said without a doubt: there is a single success story behind WhatsApp. Launched in 2009, the service quickly gained a large number of users before it was taken over by Facebook in 2014. With around 1.6 billion users, WhatsApp is the most popular messenger worldwide today.

But WhatsApp was not only able to write positive headlines in the past. The service was repeatedly criticized due to security gaps. Hacking WhatsApp and reading messages is not always the primary target of hackers. Because through the releases that you have to grant the app during installation, attackers can also access connection data, the address book, or even the location of the device when hacking WhatsApp.

Before 2014, it was even easier for hackers to spy on a cell phone using WhatsApp. Only then did WhatsApp secure the previously unencrypted communication via the app with the help of so-called end-to-end encryption. The messages are encrypted when they are sent and only decrypted again at the intended recipient. Even if hackers succeed in intercepting the encrypted message on the way, it is almost impossible for them to decrypt the message.

This procedure is so effective that the company operating the messenger has even been criticized by the director of the FBI and by other authorities for it - after all, it makes life much more difficult not only for hackers but also for secret services.

How Secure is My Data Really?

As already described above, WhatsApp had to struggle with security problems in the past. In the course of the takeover by Facebook, doubts about data security were raised. But WhatsApp has definitely learned from the past and gradually worked on data security. In the meantime, data protectionists give WhatsApp a good to a very good rating. However, problems on the part of the provider are only one side of the coin when it comes to security issues with WhatsApp. It is not uncommon for hackers to exploit the user's weaknesses instead of possible weak points in the system for their attacks.

One hears again and again of seemingly harmless chain letters that are distributed thousands of times by users of their own free will. What many users do not know: Messages like this often come from hackers who have integrated malicious links into the message well camouflaged. If an inexperienced user clicks on the link, the attackers can easily install malware on their mobile phones. It should also be remembered that while the content of the messages is protected. But the metadata is not. So you can see exactly who communicated with whom and when.

How Can You Make WhatsApp More Secure?

The most important security measure to protect this software from attackers is to keep the app up to date. Because end-to-end encryption only works if the latest version of WhatsApp is installed on both the sender and the recipient.

In the standard setting, WhatsApp is allowed to access all contacts stored in the mobile phone - and thus theoretically also attackers who hack WhatsApp. To prevent this, WhatsApp can be prevented from accessing the contacts in the settings. Then, however, names are no longer displayed in the app, only the numbers, which extremely restricts the usability of the messenger. This step is therefore not recommended.

In addition, the web version of WhatsApp should never be used on public computers or computers shared with other people. This way, others could theoretically read their own messages with little effort - and even without having access to the cell phone.

If you pay attention to certain things, you don't really have to worry too much about the security of WhatsApp.

In order to prevent attackers from hacking WhatsApp and reading messages that were not intended for them at all, you should always keep the messenger up-to-date and not use tools like WhatsApp Web at all or only on secure and trustworthy computers. To do this, you should only click links in messages, if at all, if you can fully trust the sender. Also, use total security in the computer you have chosen to use WhatsApp Web.

If you follow these basics, stomach aches should be a thing of the past due to safety concerns when using this messenger.