Familiar With Whatsapp Messenger - Features And Security

By Author: Peter Sam
Total Articles: 20
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WhatsApp Messenger is a proprietary, cross-platform instant messaging application for smartphones. Moreover, to basic messaging WhatsApp Messenger users can send each other images, video as well as audio media messages.

WhatsApp Android is not compatible with only Android ; it is available for iOS, BlackBerry OS, Symbian and Windows Phone only. WhatsApp synchronizes with the phone’s contact’s book, so users do not need to add contacts in a separate book. As the underlying technology the application uses the open standard XMPP.
Silent features of WhatsApp For Android:

• Multiplatform and free for the first year (except on iOS).
• Automatic detection of Whatsapp users by comparing address book contents
• Low on network usage.
• Unlimited length of messages.
• Personal display status.
• Real-time confirmations when messages are sent as well as delivered.
• Share photos, videos, music and more with people.
• Able to send current or any specific location.
• Create and join groups where you can ...
... chat as well as share media.
• You ca apply group icons.
In May 2011 there was a security hole reported in WhatsApp for Android which left user accounts open for hijacking. As per some sources, it is believed that this hack was performed, and later fixed by helping WhatsApp reproduce it on Android and Symbian, by Liroy van Hoewijk, CEO of CoreISP.net.

Communications made by current WhatsApp versions are not encrypted, and data is sent and received in plaintext, meaning messages can easily be read if packet traces are available.

A new version of the WhatsApp Messenger application for iPhones was released on September 2011. In this new version, the developer has closed a number of critical security holes that allowed forged messages to be sent and messages from any WhatsApp user to be read.

On January 6, 2012 an unknown hacker published a website (WhatsAppStatus.net) which made it possible to change the status of an arbitrary whatsapp user, as long as the phone number was known. To let it work it only required a restart of the app. According to the hacker it is only one of the many security issues in Whatsapp. On the 9th of January Whatsapp reported to have implemented a final solution.

In reality the only measure that was taken was blocking the website’s IP-address. As a reaction a Windows tool was made available for download providing the same functionality. This issue has not been resolved until now. The first notification of this issue has been reported to Whatsapp in September 2011.