WhatsApp: Be careful if you download any photos to your cellphone right away from an unknown number. Your bank account may be emptied by this. Currently, scammers use a special hacking technique called steganography, which can cost you lakhs of rupees. To keep safe in such a scenario, follow these precautions.
Online scam incidents have risen substantially in recent years, and scammers now use WhatsApp. where thousands of users are targeted daily by crooks. In the meantime, a brand-new scam that drains people’s bank accounts for downloading a single picture is gaining traction extremely quickly. Indeed, scammers are now targeting people with a unique hacking technique known as “Steganography.” Recently, scammers attacked an individual from Maharashtra and took 2 lakh rupees from his bank account using a similar hacking approach. Let us learn more about this issue first, and then we will learn about steganography.
What is the full matter
In fact, a 28-year-old guy lost over Rs 2 lakh after downloading an image provided on WhatsApp from an unknown phone in a recent example that surfaced from Maharashtra. Scammers used a unique hacking method called steganography to construct the image that was sent from the unknown phone, which appeared to be a picture of an elderly person. Following that, money was taken out of the person’s bank account as soon as he downloaded this picture.
Steganography: What is it? This scam happened as part
Least Significant Bit (LSB) steganography was the technique used in this scam, according to experts. In reality, scammers conceal dangerous codes in media files—such as images, audio files, or even PDFs—and distribute them to victims. But these steganography files appear to be rather ordinary, they include malware that activates as soon as the file is accessed.
To 63SATS Managing Director Neehar Pathare, who spoke to Indian Express, steganography uses even the tiniest data fragments within a file to carry out dangerous commands. Only with the use of specialized forensic instruments can it be found. Because of this, it is challenging for consumers and standard security tools to identify the threat.
To avoid it, take the following steps.
To prevent becoming victims of such attacks, consumers are advised to take certain steps by cyber security experts. These include of never sharing an OTP, disabling WhatsApp’s auto-download function, keeping the device updated with the most recent security patch, and avoiding from downloading any media files from unknown numbers.