Examples of “real-life” situations to watch for online
Parental Advisory: Dating Apps
Parents be warned: some dating apps – like FastMeet, Meet24 and Meet4U (all made in the Ukraine) – allow adults to find and communicate with children. Concerned parents should remove these apps if they are on children’s devices. You also can set your kids’ devices so they must get parental approval before purchasing any new apps.
FastMeet, Meet24 and Meet4U let children create public dating profiles. So, adults can use these apps to connect with children. If that’s not scary enough, the apps collect users’ real-time location data. In other words, adults can search by age and location to identify children nearby.
Apple and Google Play have removed FastMeet, Meet24, and Meet4U from their stores, although it’s possible that updated versions of these apps could appear in the future. To find info on how to delete existing versions of these apps, go to Apple’s website (iPhones) or Google’s website (Android phones).
Malware from illegal video streaming apps
Smart TVs and streaming boxes/sticks let you stream video through popular apps like Hulu, Netflix, etc. There are other apps that let you watch illegal pirated content, and hackers are using those apps to spread malware.
Purveyors of pirated content are now spreading apps and add-ons that work with popular streaming devices. If you download an illegal pirate apps or add-ons, the chances are good that you’ll also download malware.
If malicious software on the pirate app gets inside your wireless network, it may try to infect other devices connected to your network. That could put at risk the computer you use for sensitive transactions like online banking or shopping. It could expose your photos and personal information.
If you want to avoid downloading malware when you stream video, don’t watch pirated content – not online and not through a video streaming device.
WhatsApp vulnerability may let hackers into your phone
WhatsApp (the popular collaboration and messaging app owned by Facebook) was recently found to have been compromised, with hackers from using software that injects a virus into the phone by making an actual phone call through WhatsApp.
There’s a lot of speculation about how the hackers were able to infiltrate a user’s phone, including the use of real software that “spies” on people for different government agencies. That software developer has firmly stated it is not responsible for this type of activity and has not authorized anyone to use its spying product outside of its government clients.
WhatsApp patch: WhatsApp has issued a patch to its 1.5 billion users and seems to have blocked any further hacking attempts. It is important that users always update their apps and software – even if other programs haven’t been attacked, updates are essential for securing any vulnerabilities.
WhatsApp logins: It is important to know which websites are connected to the apps you use. If your WhatsApp login is connected to your Facebook login, for example, both sets of credentials may be vulnerable. Users are encouraged to change their WhatsApp and Facebook passwords at this time.
