A glitch in WhatsApp had accidentally exposed the phone numbers of some
users on Google but now the company has resolved the issue. A day after
researcher Athul Jayaram unearthed the bug that leaked many phone numbers
due to a click to chat feature on WhatsApp, the company fixed the
issue.
As per the researcher, WhatsApp’s click to chat feature, which had exposed
the numbers of users, allows users to create a link through which users can
get in touch with them directly. Jayaram claims that WhatsApp doesn’t
encrypt the phone number so when you share the link, you also accidentally
expose the phone number in plaintext
However, in a statement issued by the company, WhatsApp has said that the
feature was created for users to connect better. “Our Click to Chat feature,
which lets users create a URL with their phone number so that anyone can
easily message them, is used widely by small and microbusinesses around the
world to connect with their customers. While we appreciate this researcher’s
report and value the time that he took to share it with us, it did not
qualify for a bounty since it merely contained a search engine index of URLs
that WhatsApp users chose to make public. All WhatsApp users, including
businesses, can block unwanted messages with the tap of a button,” a
WhatsApp spokesperson said.
The Click to Chat feature lets users create a link using wa.me/ which can
be shared with friends or businesses so that people can converse directly
with them without saving the phone number. As per the researcher, if you
have created a link through Click to Chat and shared it on social media
platforms, it also shares the number online. Whoever has access to the link,
will also get the phone number. He said due to this glitch, several
cybercriminals and fraudsters could target users whose numbers are exposed
to Google. But now that is not the case anymore as WhatsApp jumped to action
after the vulnerability was uncovered.
Jayaram, who discovered the bug in WhatsApp, has also confirmed that
WhatsApp has removed leaked links from http://api.whatsapp.com in the Google
search engine. As per him, 400000 Whatsapp numbers that were exposed due to
click to chat features have been removed from the Google search engine. “Web
is a safer place today,” he tweeted.
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