New WhatsApp vulnerability allows attackers to suspend your account

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Many Malaysians use WhatsApp as their primary messaging app. So what if you wake up one day to find WhatsApp no longer working for you? In a new report, security researchers have confirmed that this is possible.

According to Forbes (via Android Police), there's a new WhatsApp vulnerability that allows attackers to suspend your account using your phone number. While it doesn't provide them access to your account, it's quite troublesome to suddenly lose access to it. So if you start getting random WhatsApp verification messages, you could have become a target for this new form of childish attack.

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Image from Forbes

So how does the vulnerability work? It's surprisingly simple, to be honest. First, the attacker installs Whatsapp on a new device. Then they enter the wrong 6-digit authentication code multiple times to block you from logging in. After that, attackers would trick WhatsApp support into deactivating your account.

WhatsApp (now owned by Facebook) is already aware of the problem, so a bug patch should be coming out soon. If not, it will probably be fixed once someone influential is affected. Either way, do keep an eye on random verification messages! For more news like this, stay tuned to TechNave.