Not too long ago, WhatsApp updated its Android application with improved privacy settings that gives your control over who can see your “last seen, profile photo and status update.”
It’s a pretty handy feature, but another major security flaw has been brought up by an IT consultant Bas Bosschert. Bosschert mentions you WhatsApp chat history might be at risk, especially if you’re one of those users who don’t pay any attention to the app permissions before installing them from the Google Play Store.
Bosschert also explained how a developer can get access to your WhatsApp chat history on Android. For those of you don’t know, WhatsApp creates a back up of your chat history and saves it on your SD card. Developers can easily ask users for permission to access the storage contents, and upload the chat history file to their own servers, putting the user’s privacy at risk.
“People would only see a loading screen when they started the game,” Bosschert said in an email to Business Insider. “They wouldn’t notice that their WhatsApp database has been uploaded.”
Not too long ago, WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook for a whopping $19 billion, and privacy concerns of the users might have increased since then, as what the company will do with the app. Facebook, on the other hand, has been under the same scenario with users concerned about their privacy and information they save on the social networking websites.
Well, users can take precautions, and make sure to check the permissions required by the app before installing them. Let’s hope WhatsApp will comment on this issue as well.
Source: Business Insider
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