EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

More than 2 billion people use the communications platform WhatsApp, which is popular for a variety of reasons, not least of which includes end-to-end encryption. 

Whatsupp with the WhatsApp Security Advisories page?

The messaging provider, WhatsApp, recently launched a Security Advisories page. Because WhatsApp cannot always fully describe security advisories within the app release notes, a new location was needed to accommodate the details.

Six different vulnerabilities were recently identified on the new security advisories page. If exploited, the vulnerabilities could provide hackers with remote code execution privileges.

On WhatsApp, what should you watch out for right now?

WhatsApp is continually crashing on both iPhones and Androids. Why? “Crash codes” are causing problems. These are random sequences of letters and numbers with malicious payloads. “Once the [malicious] message has been received, the app will crash, and even closing and restarting the app will not fix the issue,” says expert Ray Walsh.

A WhatsApp spokesperson says that the company has begun to rollout a patch, and users are encouraged to download updates as they become available.

The dark twist?

Some of these malicious messages are being disseminated in the form of virtual cards, or vcards. Cards (handmade or virtual) once represented friendly exchanges, and now they’re the source of computing corruption.

Try to block any contacts that attempt to send you these types of messages. Then, attempt to remove the message containing the crash code from WhatsApp web, if the messaging app remains inaccessible to you. If all else fails, uninstall the app and reinstall it.

For more on this story, visit Tech Radar.