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WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum counters Spanish claims of sending fake messages

WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum counters Spanish claims of sending fake messages
Jonathan Riggall

Jonathan Riggall

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Yesterday we reported how two Spanish security experts claimed to be able to intercept WhatsApp messages and change the receipt information so it appeared to be from a different user. We contacted WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum who responded saying that the hack appears to have happened on the receiving phone, and not WhatsApp servers.

Pablo San Emeterio and Jaime Sánchez say they can intercept a message and change the receipt information (sender details etc) before it arrives on the target phone. But Jan Koum responded to these claims, saying

It appears to us that they hacked into their own phone and altered messages after they were received (free from tampering) from the WhatsApp servers.  We do not have evidence they have demonstrated … the ability to send a fake impersonating message to another WhatsApp user.

That’s very different to what the Spanish programmers claim, although as we said in our original story, even if what Emeterio and Sánchez is true, it’s not something that any normal user would be able to copy.

We’ve reached out to Jan Koum, and Emeterio and Sánchez for further comment. We’ll update this story as soon as we have more details.

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