A new tool has been discovered that can exploit a flaw on Instant Messaging app, WhatsApp. The tool can be used to alter the words quoted in a message in a way that it would seem as though a person wrote something that they actually did not.
***Plat4om giveaway: Check the picture at the end for a surprise.***
According to the BBC, the “vulnerability in Facebook’s WhatsApp allows you to “put words in people’s mouths” literarily. The tool apparently makes it possible for people to manipulate conversations on the app. Thereby, making it seem like a person said something that they didn’t.
Oded Vanunu, a researcher on the issues said, “It’s a vulnerability that allows a malicious user to create fake news and create fraud.” The quoting feature on Whatsapp lets users reply a particular message by quoting a text. The fraudulent tool now makes it possible to edit this message before replying making it seem like the user had written something they didn’t.
“You can completely change what someone says. You can completely manipulate every character in the quote,” Vanunu explained. The tool also makes it possible to change the identity of the sender of a message. Therefore, a comment made by one person can be attributed to another.
WhatsApp Is Not As ‘Safe’
Another flaw detected was that the tool could trick users into believing they are sending a message privately to one person.
Meanwhile, they are unknowingly sending a reply to a public group on WhatsApp. However, WhatsApp’s parent company, Facebook has corrected this particular flaw. Although, they are yet to fix all the other issues.
Vanunu had told the BBC that they had reached out to Facebook on the issue. He said the social media giants told him that they could not resolve other issues. They said they could not because of what was termed “infrastructure limitations” on WhatsApp.
The encryption technology according to them had made it almost impossible to monitor and verify the authenticity of messages. This is particularly worrisome as fake news has constantly been an issue on WhatsApp. It has resulted in a lot of chaos in some parts of the world including these parts where broadcasted messages can cause panic and tribal tensions.
WhatsApp has taken some measures to try to curb fake news on the platform. It did an update where it started to limit the number of times a user can forward a message. This was in a bid to limit the spread of wrong information.
