Forget Facebook security breach, this WhatsApp spyware can access personal files on your phone

Worried about Facebook security breach? Well, there is something that may make you worry more. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that data of 50 million Facebook users have been exposed following a massive security breach by unknown hackers. "On Tuesday afternoon, our engineering team found an attack affecting up to 50 million accounts on Facebook. The attackers exploited a vulnerability in the code of the View As feature which is a privacy feature that lets people see what their Facebook profile would look like to another person," Zuckerberg said in a statement.

"The vulnerability allowed the attackers to steal Facebook access tokens - which are the equivalent of a digital key - which the attackers could have used to take over or access people's accounts," he added. 

Now, reports say that a spyware on WhatsApp can access users' personal data, not just chats but also other elements of the app and on the device. Notably, WhatsApp is a Facebook-owned app. WhatsApp's popularity makes it one of the prime target of hackers who try to spread spyware and other malicious apps. 

A report by ZNET says the spyware was spotted first by an ESET researcher, Lukas Stefanko. He said that the software can not only just access users' chats but other elements in the app and on the device. One relief for WhatsApp users, however, is that the spyware is apparently still under development stage. It was spotted in an open development project online.

The report said that G DATA ScurityLabs uncovered the spyware's code in a public repository titled “OwnMe” on GitHub. The malware consisted of a MainActivity.class, which can launch the OwnMe.class service, triggering a pop-up message to the user which reads, “Service started.”

According to bgr.in, the traced spyware may not be a part of its final build as a majority of malwares are generally designed to carry out actions on the device without being sited.