WhatsApp users should update their app immediately after the Facebook-owned firm issued a stark warning.
The popular service, which is used by over 1.5 billion people, has been targeted by cyber criminals which could allow them to access and monitor your smartphones.
It’s been confirmed that hackers were able to remotely install surveillance software on devices including iPhone and Android smartphones using a major vulnerability within the platform.
In fact, it seems the malicious code could be installed via a simple phone call to a targets’ device.
What makes this attack even more terrifying is that the code could be transmitted to phones even if the owner didn’t answer and the usual log of the call would then often disappear – the Financial Times has reported.
WhatsApp says the advance cyber threat was first discovered earlier this month and had been used to target a “select number” of users.
Speaking about the threat a WhatsApp spokesperson said: “The attack has all the hallmarks of a private company reportedly that works with governments to deliver spyware that takes over the functions of mobile phone operating systems.
“We believe a select number of users were targeted through this vulnerability by an advanced cyber actor.
“We have briefed a number of human rights organisations to share the information we can, and to work with them to notify civil society.”
On its website, the US company also published details for security specialists, in which it described the flaw as: “A buffer overflow vulnerability in WhatsApp VOIP stack allowed remote code execution via specially crafted series of SRTCP packets sent to a target phone number.”
Here are all the affected versions of the app.
The issue affects WhatsApp for Android prior to v2.19.134, WhatsApp Business for Android prior to v2.19.44, WhatsApp for iOS prior to v2.19.51, WhatsApp Business for iOS prior to v2.19.51, WhatsApp for Windows Phone prior to v2.18.348, and WhatsApp for Tizen prior to v2.18.15.
News of this attack comes as some WhatsApp users will soon be stopped from using the popular messaging app.
The Facebook-owned firm first announced it was ending support for some older devices back in 2016 with Blackberry, Nokia and some early iPhones all getting blocked from the app.
Now WhatsApp has updated its support page with all Windows phones losing the ability to access the service.
The support for these devices will end after December 31, 2019 and will be closely followed by Android versions 2.3.7 or iPhone’s running anything older than iOS 7 – with that block coming into force from February 1, 2020.
Justifying the decision to stop supporting these phones, WhatsApp said in a blog post: “As we look ahead to our next seven years, we want to focus our efforts on the mobile platforms the vast majority of people use.
“While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future.
“This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp.
“If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone to continue using WhatsApp.”