WhatsApp account stolen? Meta sues creators of malicious apps

WhatsApp account stolen?  Meta sues creators of malicious apps

Despite all the security related issues, WhatsApp has tried everything to ensure that its users are protected. The measures applied mainly focus on service functions.

Now Meta wants to go further and has taken a unique step. You launched a lawsuit in court and you want to blame programmers who create apps to give WhatsApp more functionality and thus end up stealing user accounts.


Despite all the warnings that are made almost continuously, many WhatsApp users are betting on alternative apps to offer this service more. Meta actively opposed this action, even banning those who use these apps.

To work more efficiently, Meta and WhatsApp are now in court to blame some programmers. These are the creators of applications such as "HeyMods", "Highlight Mobi" and "HeyWhatsApp", accused of stealing more than a million accounts.

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Available on Play Store and other APK repositories, these apps contain hidden malware that steals users' credentials. To do this, when the app is opened, these credentials are requested and then communicated to an attacker's central point.

With this data, hackers take over these accounts and use them to spread spam messages and even attempt other attacks. Some of these apps have more than 1 million downloads on the Android Play Store and promise new themes and features for WhatsApp.

This situation is not new and WhatsApp has already warned about the situation before. The company's CEO, Will Cathcart, had previously warned about this behavior and an attempt by WhatsApp and Meta to ban these apps in the future. Recommend downloading these apps from Safe sources.

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For this lawsuit, Meta claims the programmers effectively violated its rules, although the jurisdiction is unclear. The complaint notes that the companies are regulated under the laws of three different regions, Hong Kong, Beijing and Taiwan, which could make the process more complicated.

By Chris Skeldon

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