Hackers Can Exploit ‘View Once’ Feature In WhatsaApp

A team of experts discovers that cybercriminals can easily save and share copies of View Once messages from compromised WhatsApp accounts

LAHORE: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Sept 18^th, 2024) Many those who user WhatsaApp know about its feature “View Once”.

An interesting vulnerability in WhatsApp enables hackers to bypass the app's "View Once" feature, granting them access to users' private images and conversations.

Launched in 2022, the View Once feature was intended to bolster privacy by preventing media and messages from being reopened, screenshotted, or recorded. However, cybersecurity specialists at Zingo X Research have reported that Meta has been inattentive to this feature's security.

The team discovered that cybercriminals can easily save and share copies of View Once messages from compromised WhatsApp accounts. In a report by Bleeping Computer, Zingo's CTO, Tal Beeri, explained that they initially shared their findings with Meta.

However, upon realizing that the vulnerability had already been exploited, they chose to disclose this information publicly to safeguard the privacy of WhatsApp users.