"He wrote terrible things about Ofira Asaig": An anonymous attacker broke into the account of a well-known fashion editor - and corresponded with his contacts, including a long list of celebrities
Corresponded with celebrities for hours:
Anonymous attack broke this morning (Sunday) into the WhatsApp account of Nadav Eliyahu Apter, fashion editor, stylist and art director - and sent messages on his behalf to a long list of celebrities.
"My partner woke me up at 06:40 and told me that someone had broken into my WhatsApp," he says in a conversation with Israel Today.
"The account stopped me, I could not access the app. From that moment on, I received calls from Shiri Maimon, Avivit Bar Zohar and Nicole Reidman," says Eliyahu After.
"He wrote terrible things in my name about Ofira Asaig. Shocking. It also turns out that he answered back to the people he corresponded with and asked them to share what he sent. Avivit Bar-Zohar asked him to send a voice message and he disappeared."
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"I am shocked by the free language and hatred that exists in our country today. I respect Ofira Asaig, I love her on a personal level. I respect every person and person wherever he is. I do not know how they actually came to Ofira Asaig," adds Eliyahu Apter.
"My partner connects to a lot of groups so he also got all the messages sent from my cell phone."
The break-in - most likely through the voice box
Recently there have been multiple attempts to hack into WhatsApp accounts, which can cause you to lose control of your account on the social network.
In the present case Eliyahu Apter's account was apparently hacked using the voicemail.
This is a sophisticated method that can be used to take control of your account - without the possibility of recovering it.
"The attacker sends us a message and asks us to call a certain number for the purpose of 'marking'. A victim who hurried to call may also err in judgment and fall victim to the rest of the attack chain (most likely)," says Ido Naor, CEO of Cyber Security Joes. Israel today".
"While the victim is calling a number distributed on the WhatsApp group, the attackers will try to reset his account with a call to his number - which will arrive at that exact moment. So basically the call from WhatsApp along with the code said in the case will go to voicemail, which they can easily break into."
'When the number is stored in the voicemail, the attacker has to make a call to the voicemail.
"This can be done in a very simple way - add the digits 1515 and then the victim's number and that's how you get to the victim's voicemail from any attacker's phone," he explains.
"Except for the call you make to the attacker, there is a reasonable chance that you will not feel anything is wrong."
How will you take care of yourself?
First, changing your password will not make you immune.
What can be done is to turn off the voicemail if possible (a simple operation that can be performed on the website of the various cellular companies), and at the same time enable two-step verification in the application, so that in order to connect you will need to enter a password.
How do I enable authentication?
Log in to the app, click on "Settings", "Account", and then on "Two-step verification".
Cases of takeover of WhatsApp accounts have gained renewed momentum in the last two years, but also in the case of switching between mobile devices or theft.
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