• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

The FBI warns that Scattered Spider is now targeting the airline sector

 | 

LapDogs: China-nexus hackers Hijack 1,000+ SOHO devices for espionage

 | 

Taking over millions of developers exploiting an Open VSX Registry flaw

 | 

OneClik APT campaign targets energy sector with stealthy backdoors

 | 

APT42 impersonates cyber professionals to phish Israeli academics and journalists

 | 

Kai West, aka IntelBroker, indicted for cyberattacks causing $25M in damages

 | 

Cisco fixed critical ISE flaws allowing Root-level remote code execution

 | 

U.S. CISA adds AMI MegaRAC SPx, D-Link DIR-859 routers, and Fortinet FortiOS flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

CitrixBleed 2: The nightmare that echoes the 'CitrixBleed' flaw in Citrix NetScaler devices

 | 

Hackers deploy fake SonicWall VPN App to steal corporate credentials

 | 

Mainline Health Systems data breach impacted over 100,000 individuals

 | 

Disrupting the operations of cryptocurrency mining botnets

 | 

Prometei botnet activity has surged since March 2025

 | 

The U.S. House banned WhatsApp on government devices due to security concerns

 | 

Russia-linked APT28 use Signal chats to target Ukraine official with malware

 | 

China-linked APT Salt Typhoon targets Canadian Telecom companies

 | 

U.S. warns of incoming cyber threats following Iran airstrikes

 | 

McLaren Health Care data breach impacted over 743,000 people

 | 

American steel giant Nucor confirms data breach in May attack

 | 

The financial impact of Marks & Spencer and Co-op cyberattacks could reach £440M

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Hacking
  • Mobile
  • Researchers hack WhatsApp accounts through SS7 protocol

Researchers hack WhatsApp accounts through SS7 protocol

Pierluigi Paganini May 10, 2016

White Hackers from Positive Technologies demonstrate how to exploit SS7 protocol to impersonate WhatsApp and Telegram users and act on their behalf.

Both WhatsApp and Telegram messaging services have implemented the end-to-end encryption for chats in order to protect the privacy of their users and improve their security.

Is it enough to keep prying eyes far from them?

No, according to a recent research conducted by Positive Technologies, hackers can impersonate victims and reply to both WhatsApp and Telegram chat messages.

Hackers can exploit the Signaling System 7, aka SS7, which is a set of protocols developed in 1975 that allows the connections of one mobile phone network to another. The information passed from a network to another are needed for routing calls and text messages between several networks.

The SS7 performs out-of-band signaling in support of the call establishment, billing, routing, and information exchange functions of the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

Experts from Positive Technologies discovered that hackers can exploit a flaw in the SS7 protocol to steal the victim’s identity on the messaging services with just basic skills.

The principal instant messaging services, including WhatsApp and Telegram, rely on the SMS authentication as the primary security verification mechanism, which is routed through SS7 signalling. This means that hackers exploit the SS7 to compromise the verification mechanism and take over the victim’s account and impersonate him.

As explained by the experts, the most worrisome aspect of the story is that hacker does not need high-skills or a sophisticated equipment for such attack.

whatsapp attack ss7

The hackers from the Positive Technologies used a common Linux distro and a publicly available SDK for their tests.

“An intruder doesn’t need sophisticated equipment. Positive Technologies used a popular Linux based computer and a publicly available SDK for generating SS7 packets. + After performing an initial attack using SS7 commands, the intruder is able to execute additional attacks using the same methods.” states the paper from Positive Technologies. “For instance, if an intruder manages to determine a subscriber’s location, only one further step is required to intercept SMS messages, commit fraud, etc. + Attacks are based on legitimate SS7 messages. Therefore, you cannot simply filter messages as it may have a negative impact on the overall quality of service”

Attacks relying on SS7 vulnerabilities could have serious consequences, many threat actors could exploit flaws in the signalling protocol to determining subscriber location, tapping calls, intercepting SMS, disrupt communication services … and takeover instant messaging accounts.

“If telecom and network operators protect their core telecom networks, it will improve the security of customers, but that’s not going to happen over night. Service providers such as WhatsApp need to consider introducing additional mechanisms to verify the identity of users to stay secure,” said Alex Mathews, technical manager EMEA of Positive Technologies.

[adrotate banner=”9″] [adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – SS7, instant messaging Hacking)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

instant messaging Hacking mobile SS7

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini June 28, 2025
The FBI warns that Scattered Spider is now targeting the airline sector
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini June 28, 2025
LapDogs: China-nexus hackers Hijack 1,000+ SOHO devices for espionage
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    The FBI warns that Scattered Spider is now targeting the airline sector

    Cyber Crime / June 28, 2025

    LapDogs: China-nexus hackers Hijack 1,000+ SOHO devices for espionage

    Malware / June 28, 2025

    Taking over millions of developers exploiting an Open VSX Registry flaw

    Hacking / June 27, 2025

    OneClik APT campaign targets energy sector with stealthy backdoors

    Hacking / June 27, 2025

    APT42 impersonates cyber professionals to phish Israeli academics and journalists

    APT / June 27, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT