WhatsApp – the super popular messaging app (800 million users), acquired by Facebook for $20 billion, has done it again… After a bug that exposed restricted profile pictures, data encryption that can be breached in 3 minutes, and the use of IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) as a cryptographic key (it’s like using your Social Security Number as a password), WhatsApp is yet again in the headlines for privacy concerns…

The latest story – hacking Whatsapp. As reported by The Hacker News, anyone can hack your WhatsApp account with just your number and 2 minutes alone with your phone…

This video, posted on YouTube, shows how a hacker answers an authenticating call, intercepts a secret PIN, and uses that to access a WhatsApp account he just created on another phone.

This is not tied to a bug or loophole – it is the way that WhatsApp was built.

Bottom line? Please be very careful whom you lend your phone to, and make sure you don’t leave it lying around. Even locked, a garden-variety hacker can access your WhatsApp account in 2 minutes.

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