Search This Blog
Powered by Blogger.

Blog Archive

Labels

Load More
Trendy Right Now

Popular Posts

Showing posts with label Message. Show all posts
WhatsApp
internet outage Message Messaging Apps Outage Power Outage WhatsApp

WhatsApp: Instant Messaging App Services Restored After a 2 Hour Outage

The instant messaging app WhatsApp is restored after a two-hour-long outage on Tuesday. WhatsApp, with around a billion active users, was alerted about the global outage when hundreds of thousands of its online users reported the disruption in their messaging app. 

Reportedly, the instant messaging platform went down at 12:30 PM IST, on Tuesday. The users reported they were unable to send messages or make calls through the app, which was earlier thought of as a mere network connectivity issue. The outage was not limited to the smartphone users of the app, since users of WhatsApp web were also facing the same consequences of the disruption. 

As per a report by Downdetector, an online platform providing real-time stats and information regarding online web services, more than 11,000 online users had reported the outage, while in the United Kingdom the count was 68,000. While in Singapore, about 19,000 users reported disruption in the app since 07:50 GMT. 

Downdetector gathers status updates from various sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform, to keep track of outages. There may have been many users who were impacted by the outage. 

Additionally, WaBetaInfo, an online portal tracking WhatsApp services claimed that the issue is indeed from the server’s side and thus cannot be resolved from the online user’s end. 

Soon after acknowledging the issue, WhatsApp’s parent company Meta said that their engineers are working on the outage issue and will solve it as soon as possible. Following this, Meta Spokesperson even apologized to the users for the inconvenience.  

“We are aware that some people are currently having trouble sending messages and we are working to restore WhatsApp for everyone as quickly as possible,” says Meta Company Spokesperson. While the reason behind the outage is still not revealed by the parent company. 

Considering the popularity of the messaging app which has increasingly emerged as an important communication tool between users, businesses, and governments globally, over 100 billion messages are exchanged daily through WhatsApp as of 2020. This recent outage may have affected a large number of users, including government officials and telecom service providers.
Read more »
WhatsApp
Automobile Bank Cyber Fraud Fraud Message WhatsApp

WhatsApp Message Fraud Dupes Automobile Firm of Rs.1 Crore

 


A well-known automobile company, JBM Group, has been duped for Rs.1 Crore in yet another fraudulent incident that took place via fake WhatsApp messages. 

As per the police, the fraudster, in a WhatsApp message to the Chief Finance Officer of JBM, Vivek Gupta claimed to be the company’s vice chairman and had the money transferred to the bank accounts. As per the officials, a total of eight transactions had been made with seven different bank accounts, worth Rs 1,11,71,696. 

In the wake of the incident, an FIR has been registered against the unidentified fraudster under section 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating) of IPC, and Section 66-D of IT Act at Cybercrime police station.

“The fraudsters claimed to be a JBM Group vice chairman Nishant Arya. The WhatsApp profile picture of the caller displayed Arya’s photograph. On verifying Truecaller, it reflected that the number belonged to Arya. I was also informed by the sender that he is busy in an important meeting, I could not directly call to make any further inquiry.” The CFO stated in his complaint. 

“I carried out the instructions of the sender under the bona fide impression that the instructions were coming from my superior Nishant Arya who needed to effectuate these transactions which were both very important and extremely urgent. The sums were transferred from two entities of the JBM Group, namely JBM Industries and JBM Auto. At the request of the sender, the UTR numbers confirming such transfers were also shared on the same WhatsApp chat,” Gupta further added. 

Serum Institute of India duped of Rs. 1 Crore via WhatsApp

Earlier this month, on September 7, a similar case was seen involving the Serum Institute of India (SII) which was duped for Rs. 1 Crore via a WhatsApp message sent by the threat actor posing as its CEO Adar Poonawalla. The messages were being sent to one of the institute’s directors. The transactions were then made to a few bank accounts, worth Rs. 1,01,01,554. 

The police officials are looking for the identity of the accused, the one who sent the fraudulent messages, and the holder of the bank accounts to which the transactions were made. 

How to Avoid Cyber Fraud?

With ever-increasing cases of cyber fraud via WhatsApp and other popular messaging platforms,  users are recommended to stay vigilant and follow exercise caution to avoid any scam that may result in financial loss. Users must follow the given steps in order to safeguard themselves against cyber fraud: 

1. Ensure to crosscheck the identity of a person or entity, if you receive messages from an unknown contact, claiming to be someone you know. 

2. Crosscheck the authentication of the source from where you are receiving the messages. 
 
3. Do not share your bank details with anyone. Since banks do not ask for such details, be cautious if the messages claim to be delivered from a bank. 

4. Do not click on the links sent by a suspicious number. The link may lead to malicious websites that are capable of duping you into revealing your passwords and sensitive information.

Cyberfraud has become an increasingly troublesome form of cybercrime as more and more people are falling prey to different forms and kinds of cyberfraud. While reporting it to the cybercrime branch of the police is one solution, netizens must stay wary of lures presented on social media to trap them for financial purposes.

Read more »
WhatsApp
CPR Israel Message WhatsApp

Flaw in WhatsApp could allow hackers alter messages







A cybersecurity firm has unearthed flaws in the messaging app WhatsApp that could let hackers alter users messages and change the texts.

Israeli-based cybersecurity firm Check Point Research (CPR) discovered the flaw, which could be exploited in three ways,  and warned that 'malicious actors' could easily use the glitch to spread misinformation and fake news.

 The experts detailed their findings at the Black Hat cyber-security conference in Las Vegas, which was attended by many other cybersecurity experts.

They screened a video in support of their findings. The video showed how swiftly a message can be manipulated.

The team claim that they notified Facebook about the issue last year, but they did not heed to their claims, as a result, it is yet to be resolved. 

In a written statement released by the CPR's site, the company said: 'Towards the end of 2018, Check Point Research notified WhatsApp about new vulnerabilities in the popular messaging application that would enable threat actors to intercept and manipulate messages sent in both private and group conversations, giving attackers the power to create and spread misinformation from what appear to be trusted sources.

'We believe these vulnerabilities to be of the utmost importance and require attention.' 
However, WhatsApp spokesman declined to comment.



Read more »
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)