How Russian Hackers Breach WhatsApp Accounts Exposed by Intelligence, Know How to Avoid Falling Victim
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Russian government hackers have been reported targeting WhatsApp and Signal accounts belonging to government officials, military leaders, and journalists worldwide.
The Russian operation was exposed by Dutch intelligence agencies MIVD and AIVD. Dutch intelligence stated that there were attempts to breach WhatsApp and Signal accounts on a global scale.
The technique relied upon by Russian hackers to hijack the chat application accounts of their targets is phishing and social engineering, rather than malware.
Hackers have breached Signal by impersonating the application’s user support team. They send messages to target user accounts containing warnings about suspicious activity, including potential data breaches or attempts to access personal information.
Users who fall victim are asked to provide the Signal authentication code sent via SMS. This code is then used by hackers to register a new device with a different phone number. Hackers use the new account to access the user’s contact list.
“Because Signal stores chat history on the phone, victims can regain access to their chat history after re-registering. As a result, many victims do not realise there is a problem,” as stated in the Dutch intelligence agency’s report.
Signal does not offer user support services through the application.
The method used by Russian hackers to breach WhatsApp is by exploiting the “Linked Devices” feature. Through this feature, WhatsApp users can access their accounts from secondary devices such as laptops or tablets.
Unlike Signal, previous chats of users who fall victim can be viewed by hackers. In some cases, victims remain unaware that their accounts are being spied on by hackers.
Another method used by Russia is to entice Signal and WhatsApp users to scan QR codes or click links that connect their accounts to devices belonging to hackers. For example, hackers send links and QR codes containing invitations to chat groups.