Google has recently identified an Android gaming app on its Play store which is potentially malicious and steals the users’ WhatsApp conversations. The app has been removed from the Play store.
WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps across all major mobile platforms. This is precisely why many hackers and malware programs try to target the app and steal user conversations which are then sold on hacking forums and sites.
‘Balloon Pop 2‘ was a legitimate Android app until recently. The app was available on the official Play store and from the looks of it, looked perfectly benign. However, beneath the balloon-shooting game is a malware that copies the WhatsApp conversations on a mobile device and then sends them to the WhatsAppcopy site.
The conversations are made available on the said site where they are also resold to others. Interestingly, the WhatsAppcopy site claims that ‘Balloon Pop 2‘ is a legitimate way of ‘backing up‘ your WhatsApp conversations. However, the details of this operation are very murky.
For instance, the description on the website reads, “Execute our game on a mobile, whatsapp conversations are sent to this website, an hour later looking for the phone, and you can read the conversations.”
In other words, as soon as you download and install the game, it sends a copy of your conversations to the online site. On the site, anyone can search for WhatsApp conversations by providing a phone number. If conversations from a particular phone number are available, they can then be purchased by paying a certain fee.
Although the creators of the app maintain that it is a perfectly legitimate app to back up conversations, security experts say otherwise. Moreover, the fact that Google has removed it from the Play store further puts a huge question mark on its credibility.
Courtesy: The Hacker News
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