Pavel Durov, the CEO of the popular messaging app Telegram, has once again warned users about rival messaging app WhatsApp’s security issues and described it as a surveillance “honeypot.”
In a Telegram post, Durov talks about his prediction in May that WhatsApp backdoors would keep getting discovered and discusses this in light of the most recent WhatsApp vulnerability which allowed hackers to access all the data on a target’s phone by sending a video.
Durov adds:
“WhatsApp doesn’t only fail to protect your WhatsApp messages – this app is being consistently used as a Trojan horse to spy on your non-WhatsApp photos and messages.”
In the post, Durov also claims that Facebook is trying to confuse the public by saying that it has no evidence that the backdoor was exploited by hackers and points out that most WhatsApp user messages are sent unencrypted to Apple and Google servers.
He finishes by suggesting that “it’s very unlikely” that these major, consistent WhatsApp security errors that allow surveillance are accidental and warns users that “unless you are cool with all your photos and messages becoming public one day, you should delete WhatsApp from your phone.“
Durov’s comments come after numerous stories of WhatsApp being hacked and used to spy on users have emerged over the last few months. In addition to the video vulnerability Durov discussed in his post, a WhatsApp security vulnerability was also recently used to spy on Indian activists, lawyers, and journalists.
