Countless Kuwaiti WhatsApp accounts hacked in new, innovative technique

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KUWAIT CITY, March 20: Cybersecurity expert and head of the Cybersecurity Committee at the Kuwaiti Electronic Media Union, Muhammad Al-Rashidi, said several Kuwaiti WhatsApp accounts were hacked in a new, innovative way that takes place in several steps, reports Al-Rai daily. Al-Rashidi added, “This hack begins with a message via the WhatsApp application from an unknown number claiming to have received a message from the number to be hacked.

“The target then responds that he did not send any message, and not long after that, this matter is repeated a second, third, and perhaps fourth time,” using different numbers with the same content and in the same way, so that the owner of the account to be targeted suspects that a malfunction has occurred in his account,” he explained, explaining that “about an hour after these messages, an account claiming to be from technical support for the WhatsApp application contacts him, and there is a complaint that your account sends messages to users, and then the owner may fall. The account is in the trap and believes what is happening.”

Al-Rashidi explained, “The account that claims to represent technical support for the application will tell the target that a (code) will be sent from WhatsApp, so that the account will not be suspended. When this impersonator is given the sent code, the account will be hacked immediately, and therefore this (code) should not be given” to anyone. Al-Rashidi stressed the need to communicate with the relevant official authorities to inform them of what happened so that the account is not exploited for things that violate the law, as well as informing family and friends, so that sums of money are not requested from them, stressing at the same time the necessity of activating the (two-step verification) method and linking the account to e-mail to make it easier to recover.

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