It's been two months since engineer Dabiri reported on Twitter what appeared to be a serious WhatsApp security issue, with WhatsApp constantly accessing his cell phone's microphone when it wasn't being used.
The report of this error caught the attention of prominent figures such as Elon Musk and the people behind the Meta account.
What did Meta respond to this complaint?
In this article we tell you.
Meta responds to Dabiri's complaint
Meta responded via tweet to Dabiri's complaint, claiming that WhatsApp was constantly accessing her phone's microphone when it wasn't in use.
Meta reported that this was a false positive, meaning that although the WhatsApp app was responsible for the open microphone, it was actually a fault with the Google Pixel phone . He asked Google to investigate further, as it could be an issue with Android.
The problem began to appear after Android 12 launched its privacy panel, so it would be necessary to wait for new updates to fix the issue.
Apparently, this was not a widespread issue, but several cases with the same complaint were noted.
Recall that one of the new features brought by the Android 12 update is that the privacy panel could tell you which apps have been able to access sensitive parts of your phone.
That is, you can see which apps have used certain parts of your phone's system, such as the camera, microphone, geolocation, and other features. And you can see how long they've been used.
Google responds to WhatsApp
Google has accepted responsibility for the flaw detected by Engineer Dabiri. The apology to WhatsApp and Google Pixel users was also issued via a tweet on June 20th from the Android developer account, thanking Meta for its collaboration.
Google confirmed that to prevent this from continuing to happen, it was necessary to update WhatsApp.
Measures to prevent apps from accessing your system functions
It's important to realize with this news that apps can access our cell phone systems, disrespecting our privacy.
So, to protect your privacy, here are some general steps you can take:
- When installing apps, be sure to carefully review the permissions they request. If an app doesn't need microphone access for its primary functionality, consider whether you really want to grant it that permission.
- Always keep your device's operating system and installed applications up to date. Updates often contain important security fixes.
- Download apps only from official app stores, such as the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, to reduce the risk of installing malicious software.
- Before downloading an app, do some research and read other users' reviews to make sure it's legitimate and trustworthy.
- Some operating systems allow you to adjust default permissions for certain apps, so you must grant access to sensitive features, such as the microphone, each time the app requests it.
It's crucial to remember that app spying is illegal and highly condemned in most countries. If you suspect an app is behaving inappropriately or invasively, you should report it and uninstall it immediately.