WhatsApp has fixed the Click to Chat feature that exposed users’ phone numbers

In case you missed it, a security researcher recently discovered that the privacy of users’ phone numbers was being compromised by WhatsApp‘s Click to Chat feature. Basically, the feature works by allowing users to click on a simple icon on a webpage, which automatically redirects you to the WhatsApp app (or web interface) conversation.

This is certainly a feature that comes in handy for various micro-businesses and users (such as realtors and e-commerce merchants), but the concern lies in how Google reportedly indexes these phone numbers within Search results. As such, the potential for abuse is there, and profile photos for these WhatsApp accounts can then be reverse-searched to identify users.

Despite WhatsApp initially saying that affected users can simply block unwanted messages, and that the numbers are made public by choice, it now appears that the Facebook-owned platform has rectified the issue. According to a new report from TechCrunch, WhatsApp has made some changes in the way the information is indexed by Google (and other search engines).

Athul Jayaram, the researcher who first made the discovery, has confirmed this. Meanwhile, we have also conducted our own independent tests, and found that Googling the terms “site:wa.me “+1″/”+60” no longer reveals any results.

As such, it appears that the messaging platform has gone back on initial arguments that this is a feature, rather than a bug. Jayaram’s claim was also dismissed by Facebook’s bug bounty program, although the reasoning for that was that the program only covers bugs for Facebook platforms—and not WhatsApp. This was their initial statement, reported by ThreatPost:

“While we appreciate this researcher’s report and value the time that he took to share it with us, it did not qualify for a bounty since it merely contained a search engine index of URLs that WhatsApp users chose to make public. All WhatsApp users, including businesses, can block unwanted messages with the tap of a button.”

Regardless, this is sure to provide some piece of mind for the thousands, if not millions of users who utilise the Click to Chat feature on a regular basis. If you want to find out more about how the feature works, click here for WhatsApp’s official FAQ section. Meanwhile, scroll on for the original story on the “bug/feature” discovery.

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