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back to article WhatDaHell, WhatsApp? Student claims 'stalker' tool shows security flaws

A newly discovered security flaw in WhatsApp allows anyone to track a user’s status, regardless of their privacy settings, a student claims. The same bug also lifts the kimono on profile picture and privacy settings - in default settings only - and status messages regardless of privacy settings. Maikel Zweerink, a Dutch …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Megaphone

    WhatsThat ?

    Putting your personal crap out on the internet causes privacy troubles you say ?

    16 4 Reply
    1. silent_count
      Reply Icon
      Unhappy

      Re: WhatsThat ?

      And you're receiving downvotes from people who can't fully wrap their minds around that concept,

      5 1 Reply
    2. solo
      Reply Icon

      Re: WhatsThat ?

      +1 from me for being realistic. But I see it more like selling cars with breaks which don't.

      1 0 Reply
  2. Tim Jenkins

    Enough with the pics of 'photogenic' females to illustrate these stories, please; it's getting embarrassing.

    More firearms on piles of cash would be fine, though...

    7 1 Reply
    1. DaLo
      Reply Icon

      Not really sure why they need any massive picture on the (any) story unless it is actually part of the news story. It's just a waste of space and bandwidth.

      13 0 Reply
    2. sabroni Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      re: More firearms on piles of cash would be fine, though...

      Really? You think guns are fine but images of attractive humans are bad? Are you American perchance?

      (Don't know what you're moaning about anyway, there's no image on the top of the story on my browser. Is that NoScript working it's magic?)

      2 2 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: re: More firearms on piles of cash would be fine, though...

        I think the pictures should ALL be pornographic for articles like these.

        Why? Because no picture represents the human condition clearer than humans fucking other humans.

        0 0 Reply
  3. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Stop

    Um, you read the blog post... El Reg?

    Last seen, profile photo, and status message can't be read by if privacy is set to nobody or contacts. Only the current online/offline status can be read by everyone regardless of what privacy is set to.

    0 0 Reply
  4. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Facepalm

    "Bug"

    Yeah.

    0 0 Reply
  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And that is a surprise why?

    Did you really think Facebook was buying WhatsCrap for its secure programming? An app that won't even work unless you allow it to copy your entire address book to its US servers? Really?

    I don't think for a moment that this discovery will "force" WhatsApp to change its ways. As long as people use it by the millions, puny squeaks of protest will be majestically ignored.

    3 0 Reply
  6. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Happy

    Disappointed

    Nobody had come out with "WhatsUp WhatsApp?"

    1 0 Reply
  7. veti Silver badge
    WTF?

    "Every detail"?

    If your idea of "knowing every detail of my movement" translates entirely into "knowing when my mobile phone is online", I think your idea of "stalking" may be a bit - unambitious.

    (Especially if it's anything like Skype, where the online/offline notifications are hilariously meaningless anyway.)

    Don't get me wrong - it's a serious bug and it should be fixed - but I think the word "overblown", not to say "hysteria", might be appropriately tagged to this story.

    1 0 Reply

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