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Israel Sends Nation-Wide Security Alert Following Reports About Hijacked WhatsApp Accounts (zdnet.com)
A wave of reports about hijacked WhatsApp accounts in Israel has forced the government's cyber-security agency to send out a nation-wide security alert on Tuesday, ZDNet has learned. From a report: The alert, authored by the Israel National Cyber Security Authority, warns about a relatively new method of hijacking WhatsApp accounts using mobile providers' voicemail systems. This new hacking method was first documented last year by Ran Bar-Zik, an Israeli web developer at Oath. The general idea is that users who have voicemail accounts for their phone numbers are at risk if they don't change that account's default password, which in most cases tends to be either 0000 or 1234. The possibility of an account takeover happens when an attacker tries to add a legitimate user's phone number to a new WhatsApp app installation on his own phone. Following normal security procedures, the WhatsApp service would then send a one-time code via SMS to that phone number. This would typically alert a user to an ongoing attack, but Bar-Zik argues that a hacker could easily avoid this by carrying out the attack during nighttime or when he is sure the user is away from his phone.
strike again...
The contents of this message have been doubly encrypted by ROT13
I got that too! It read, "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed."
Looks like they heard that the U.S. was doing an emergency broadcast text to everybody in the country, and decided that they wanted to do one, too.
I am Israeli and got no such message.
Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
Dis hack is like anudda shoah!
creimer’s dick is so small that a toddler looks like Mandingo in comparison.
Maybe we should start a GoFundMe to crowdfund penis enlargement surgery for creimer?
That's amazing! I have the same combination on my luggage!
I've wondered about something like a UL listing, done by a non-partisan group, but would review offerings (be it apps or hardware devices) on the security they provided. This would be at different levels, similar to Europe's Sold Secure bronze/silver/gold ratings. This way, one could tell a service that offered end to end encryption and proper, auditable procedure versus some a company that has security as an afterthought at best.
I don't get the point of WhatsApp. If I want solid security, there is Signal and Telegram, both have good ratings. If I need a "corporate" messaging app, there is Slack and Skype for Business. Even Facebook Messenger can do end to end encryption with its "secret" functionality uses Signal's protocol. Why do I need an insecure messaging app when there is so much better out there?
Are you alerting to YHVH?!!!
Yes or Not? Take a decision!
Great idea. we should get something like that.
*ducks*