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India’s leading government agency CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) has issued a warning to those using WhatsApp in India. In this, it has been told about the new ‘Device-Linking’ feature, by taking wrong advantage of which hackers can hack your account. A new type of cyber attack is being called ‘Ghost Pairing’.

CERT-In has placed this threat in ‘high severity’ category. It has been told in the warning that the attack often starts when the user receives messages like ‘Hi, see this photo’, after which the user’s WhatsApp account can completely go under the control of the hacker.

What is ‘Ghostpairing’?

According to CERT-In, Ghost Pairing is a technique in which the hacker does not need to change the password or SIM card. Rather, this method takes advantage of the weakness of WhatsApp’s device-linking feature. This method takes advantage of a weakness in WhatsApp’s device-linking feature. Hackers can hack into accounts using pairing codes, which do not require any strong verification process.

After ‘hacking’ the account, the hacker can use the same account to send messages to the victim’s contacts and commit further fraud. CERT-In said that in this attack the user fraudulently links the hacker’s browser as a trusted device.

How does hacking happen?

This cyber attack often starts with a message like “Hi, see this photo” from a known contact. The link given in the message appears like a preview like Facebook. On clicking the link, a fake Facebook viewer opens, which asks the user to ‘verify’ to view the content.

During this, the hacker uses the ‘Link device via phone number’ feature of WhatsApp. Through ‘verification’ the hacker gets the user to enter his number. After this, after completing some easy and common steps, the user’s account is completely accessible to the hacker.

What can a hacker do after the account is hacked?

Once the device is linked, the hacker has full access to the user’s WhatsApp Web. With this, he can read old synced messages, receive new messages instantly, view photos, videos and voice notes, send messages in the user’s name and access personal and group chats.

What to do to keep yourself safe?

CERT-In has advised users to adopt some important precautions, such as:
Do not click on any suspicious link, even if it comes from someone you know.
Never enter your phone number on any external website claiming to be associated with WhatsApp or Facebook.
Go to WhatsApp and check Settings > Linked Devices regularly. If you see an unknown device, log it out immediately.