Hackers built a fake version of WhatsApp for iPhone

ZecOps released the details of the attack on users of the social network produced by a group of hackers who designed the fake version

Cybersecurity tech firm ZecOps recently reported the detection of an attack against WhatsApp users. Apparently, a group of hackers designed an almost identical fake version of this application, in order to steal information from iPhone users.

The company indicated that WhatsApp users on iOS were victims of attacks on this platform. The post shared on Twitter also included a domain and an IP address. Following the posts of ZecOps, Citizen Lab and Motherboard began an investigation that revealed that the domain found sought to trick iPhone users into installing a fake version of WhatsApp on their devices.

The hackers’ method

The download link was on a page very similar to the original, which included the brand of the popular messaging service and instructions on how to install the application.

As they discovered in Citizen Lab, it was a file that contained a special configuration for iPhone devices, it allowed criminals to access the information of the victims, such as the UDID code, unique for each iPhone, or the IMEI identifier, that verifies each mobile device.

This fake version is actually spyware that was designed specifically for people who own these Apple devices. In Motherboard they emphasize that at the moment they do not identify for whom it was directed, but they think it may be linked to Cy4Gate, an Italian cybersecurity firm that works with state agencies.

Source: doblellave

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