If you are one of the two billion users of WhatsApp, the company’s CEO urging you to beware of fake versions of the app making the rounds. The WhatsApp Chief said users should be careful of the apps they download as they could be compromising their safety and privacy.
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Malicious applications
Will Cathcart, who heads WhatsApp, a Meta company, said the security team found suspected malicious applications that look similar to the messaging app, according to The Quint. Some of these apps are ‘HeyMods’ and ‘HeyWhatsApp’ and they claim to offer the same advanced features that the real WhatsApp has.
Cathcart said this messaging is misleading and a ploy to get users to download these apps which could be laced with malware. The CEO is therefore warning users to avoid downloading these apps which could put their security and privacy at risk.
Backend efforts
Thankfully, these apps are not on the Google Play Store or Apple Store. However, there are crafty ways they are being shared, and you might think nothing of it before downloading them. But Cathcart in a tweet said, users should not download them from any sources because they are dangerous and might lead to loss of their important personal data.
He assured that efforts are being made by the company to counter these fake malicious applications to protect the data and security of its users.
We’ll of course continue our efforts to detect and block these kinds of apps going forward.
Read more:
⋙ WhatsApp: This new feature will change the way you keep track of your chats
⋙ WhatsApp: Turn on these settings now to protect your privacy, users advised
⋙ WhatsApp to extend time limits on deletion of sent messages
