5 Steps to check if your WhatsApp is hacked!

Hacking or remote spying of WhatsApp has become way too common nowadays thanks to various apps available online.

We list the top 5 ways WhatsApp is hacked and how you can check if your WhatsApp is hacked. There are additional tips for you to secure your WhatsApp as well.

1. WhatsApp Web:

This is the most common way of mirroring your Whatsapp on another device. WhatsApp Web allows you to mirror your WhatsApp on a webpage on a laptop. This helps you to conveniently reply to messages using laptop without having a mobile with you. The video below explains how it’s done. But this feature can be misused by others to track your WhatsApp Remotely.

To check if someone is accessing your WhatsApp from WhatsApp Web, Open WhatsApp -> Click on three dots at top right -> Click on “WhatsApp web”. If you see any session information that means your WhatsApp is being accessed remotely.

To stop it just click on “Log out of all devices”.

2. Notification Access.

Apps can read notification on android phones and send it to the server for others to read. Most apps read WhatsApp incoming texts from this notification. To make sure there are no such apps, go to Settings -> Search for “Notification access” and you will get the list of apps having access to the notification. If there is an app that you have not installed then you should consider uninstalling that as it might be reading your WhatsApp and other messenger’s incoming messages.

3. Keyboard strokes (Accessibility)

Another way to track all your incoming and outgoing messages is to monitor all your keystrokes. Spy Apps use it to read everything you type and send it to the server. You can check if there is an app installed which monitors keystone by going to Settings and Searching for “Accessibility”. This will list all apps which have keyboard access. Make sure to uninstall apps that you haven’t installed yourself.

4. SIM cloning.

If someone manages to clone your SIM he will have access to your WhatsApp messages easily. To prevent that WhatsApp has a feature to enable two-step verification. Go to WhatsApp -> Click on the top left three dots -> Settings -> Account -> Two-Step Verification and enable it by entering 6 digit code. If someone tries to clone sim and install Whatsapp he will be asked to enter this 6 digit pin.

5. Keep WhatsApp up-to-date.

To prevent companies/hackers from trying to exploit bugs of WhatsApp and inject spy code into your device make sure to keep your WhatsApp to date. An Israeli company, NSO, last year had hacked into many devices by exploring a bug during Video Call of WhatsApp. Although this is very difficult for hackers it’s not impossible.

About the Author

Srihari Karanth is an active developer and Founder of TrackMyPhones. He is a former Software Architect in Global MNC. He now works on building new innovative mobile applications and websites. You can reach him at Srihari@TrackMyPhones.com