Although at the moment it is not one of the most serious attacks because social networks have been in charge of warning users who still did not know about the new threat that comes through the Whatsapp, In case any of our readers have not found out yet, or have done so but so late that it has already been infected, we take the opportunity to tell you both things in this post. On the one hand, how does this new WhatsApp virus work, and on the other, how to fix the whatsapp lock by the viral attack if your terminal has already been affected.
El attack is intended for Android terminals, at least for the moment, and seems to be concentrating on Europe, which is where the chain of conversations between contacts has started, who end up passing it on to their acquaintances. However, in Spain, it has not yet shown its toughest face, so for now it seems that calm reigns in our country. Just in case, we will tell you everything so that you can prevent the attack if in a few weeks, when nobody talks about it, it ends up arriving here as well.
El how this malware works for WhatsApp it is in such a way that a chain video is the one that contains it. Precisely because of the form of the message, one of the classics that tell you that it must be sent to several contacts is that it is managing to infect the terminals quickly. Once we receive the video, if it doesn't play, nothing happens. The problem is unleashed when hitting Play. Right there they invade our system, and apparently they would take over the data from our contact list (to which we remember that WhatsApp has granted access), and then we also end up blocking the application. That is, to stop being able to use it on your Android phone.
If it has not happened to you, remember well that viral videos with chains are those that contain this virus. And although it is not about entering into paranoia and not opening any, it is better to be cautious in this matter. Anyway, if it happens to you or you fear that it might happen to you, here is the solution that users have reported as the easiest to get rid of this new threat on whatsapp.
How to fix WhatsApp blocking due to viral attack
- Access your photo gallery and locate the video that WhatsApp has blocked you. If you are not sure which one has been, delete the last strings of the day in which the activity of the messenger began to report the problem. In addition to the Whatsapp galleryIf you have the photos synchronized to be copied to your mobile, delete it from there as well.
- Completely remove the WhatsApp application from your terminal.
- Restart your smartphone
- Reinstall the WhatsApp application from scratch from Google Play
With these steps, the fingerprint of the virus that blocks WhatsApp and that has appeared as a threat this week. At least the infected users report that it is the best and simplest solution after several trials to get rid of it. Obviously, there are losses such as the conversation history, or the gallery of unsaved images; but they are minor compared to the fact that they can be made with data related to your contacts and that they also disable the use of WhatsApp on your device. Don't you think?
More information- How to install WhatsApp on an Android tablet with only WiFi
URLs? References? Reports from specialized companies?
Can you post referral URLs? Any report from a company specializing in security? Any concrete experience? Is it a particular video or do you grab one at random from your phone and send it?
As I mentioned, at least for the moment, the virus is affecting non-Spanish accounts. It is a video in the form of a chain (the message was risque) that is the carrier of a virus similar to the already known attack with Zeus, only in this case it is transmitted between the users themselves instead of a warning in your screen that tells you to download the application again. The references are, as I explained, users who have experienced the problem.
I want to clarify that in no case is the problem in your video gallery, as you imply in your second comment. If you were infected, your WhatsApp would have probably already stopped working and you would have to restore everything as I explain in the tutorial.
I hope I have helped you with your question.
No. The shots were not for "the problem is in your video gallery" ... they were more for if the Trojan, when it infects you, "takes" one of your videos, modifies it and forwards it to your contacts (which could be … The permissions, in fact, he has them -thanks to WhatsApp-) l.
I still worry that I won't find any information on this new "version" of Zeus from security blogs and newscasts.
Regarding "a video in the form of a chain" ... does it literally mean that the image that appears before you play it is that of a chain?
Sorry for not understanding your previous comment on the video, but reading it seemed to me that you were saying that. Regarding what you comment now; not exactly Manuel. It is a video in string format; that is, the type you should send it to 10 of your contacts, you know?
You cannot find information in Spanish because it is not affecting Spain at the moment. It's not Zeus, I gave it to you as an example because it was one of the most well-known attacks.
In any case, I will give you a link on the subject in Italian (Italy is one of the countries where it has affected the most, although there are others in Europe apparently) and I also tell you that something similar happened on Valentine's Day in Italy, although in That case, it was an account blocking by WhatsApp itself, which occurred due to an alleged homophobic video (I'll clarify it for you in case you hit the subject when doing related searches) http://www.androidblog.it/60266/whatsapp-e-il-video-che-blocca-laccount-come-risolvere/
Hope that helps
Regards!!!
Let's see, Cristina. WhatsApp is UNSAFE. And in safety, all precautions and warnings are not enough. But logic will also help us. But this would imply two different levels of security flaws:
The first, in WhatsApp, for allowing yourself to be sent a video that is not (and WhatsApp only allows you to send videos and photos, nothing more).
If what you send is a real, playable video, the output spark that would trigger it would be the video player, that a failure in it would cause the video to use the system, but in this case it would be using the application's permissions Of video. Given the Android security system, it could not "touch" anything on your WhatsApp. In addition, to be able to do it, as I said a moment ago, you should use a security hole in the video player and, for better and for worse, everyone has their own specific video player. And each one in one version or another. It is almost impossible for me that the same security hole was playable in VLC, the Samsung player, the native AOSP (Gallery), the new one from Google (Photos) or as many and as many others as there are.
If what you are sending is a file that "looks like a video but is not", then we are talking about a very serious security flaw in WhatsApp (letting you send files that are not "allowed") and, indeed, it could only touch and affect the WA itself. But as far as I know, WA doesn't "run" files, or even Javascript code. So it seems very difficult to attack him in that sense.
Notice that all the "notices" that have existed so far related to WA were "related" to it:
- send links to pages with malicious code or that pretend to be google play or such
- send SMS that say they come from WA but are actually for you to reply to the SMS and accidentally sign up for an expensive number
- and a little more
Because actually the Android virtual machine is pretty pretty secure. And the different levels of security (added to the fragmentation that Android itself suffers) make a generalized attack of the characteristics cited by the Italian blog very complicated and difficult.
Delving a little more ... either of the two variants of "security failure", at this point, would be more than commented on in blogs and news specials in security (of which I follow quite a few feeds), and there is no reference to this matter in question.
Sorry for the length of my comments, but I like things to be as clear as possible.
Why do the comments appear and disappear randomly?
Of course I don't know how you can write so much yellowishness. As with the yellow avatar to protest against the government. Let's see, a video or an image cannot carry viruses! You just play it or view the image. Point. That they use links to websites with malicious code or other means, okay, but a video? Please let us use our heads.
jma: I agree with you. But it seems to me that Cristina, in addition to being very young, has been in this technology blogging business for a short time. Remember that two days ago I was publishing "How to install WhatsApp on an Android tablet with only WiFi" and "How to enable Adobe Flash Player on Android 4.4". For the latter, I prepared a really inflammatory comment, but a miscommunication ruined it for me. Look at February 2014 explaining how to install a useless tool (at this point) and totally insecure ...
Really and without the intention of offending, if you don't use common sense, all you get is to give truth to huge nonsense like this. I repeat, that an image or a video so far (on any system and platform) have not been able to include any type of malicious code. Let's remember the viruses of yesteryear, the viruses that were sent as images, were actually .exe files camouflaged with an image icon, just like videos. Therefore, it is not possible to take advantage of any vulnerability in whatsapp or in the gallery or in the player. It could simply be expanded by links to websites with malicious code and for this the user must explicitly access a URL.
By the way, as Manuel indicates, I do not see a profile like yours for this website if your posts are of the type "how to change the casing to a moto g" (please, who could not with their own means and intelligence change said casing without needing a tutorial?).