Policy Observatory
WhatsApp security flaws could allow snoops to slide into group chats
At the Real World Crypto security conference in Zurich, Switzerland, a group of researchers from the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany plan to describe a series of flaws in encrypted messaging apps. While the Signal and Threema flaws they found were relatively harmless, the researchers unearthed far more significant gaps in WhatsApp's security: They say that anyone who controls WhatsApp's servers could effortlessly insert new people into an otherwise private group, even without the permission of the administrator who ostensibly controls access to that conversation.
Country: Germany
Domains: Privacy
Stakeholder: Academia
Tags: flaws, instant messaging apps, security, research, encryption