Nowadays there are many instant messaging applications that exist and that have become an essential communication tool. WhatsApp is one of the greatest examples of this type of apps, which is also used by hackers to being able to put its users at risk by taking advantage of a function that is activated by default.
WhatsApp is used by millions of people who have an iPhone right now. iMessage, except in the United States, is barely used in favor of the application owned by Meta, which has a large market share in Spain and Latin America. And this is also a major security problem if you have an active option.
Auto-download as a source of infection for the iPhone
By default, WhatsApp is configured on our iPhone to automatically download images, videos or files that are received from any type of chat. These are stored on the device without your consent in order to allow quick access to the content, although this is a serious security issue.
The fact that any type of file is stored inside the iPhone is a huge security issue in many situations. It opens the door directly for cybercriminals to Send malicious files that end up in the device’s internal storage.
Although the security issue is not the only relevant one here. Storage with automatic downloading active is also a big controversy. Precisely, it has happened to all of us that if we are in several active groups where many photographs are sent We can find our photo gallery full of elements which we don’t really want there.
But the real problem with downloading a malicious file is precisely when it is opened by mistake because you don’t know what it is. That’s when your iPhone can be completely exposed to cybercriminal attacks.
To avoid all this, the most important thing is Disable automatic download of files in WhatsApp from our iPhone. To do this, we will have to follow these steps:
- Open WhatsApp and go to Configuration.
- Select Storage and data.
- In Automatic media downloadadjust the settings so that media is not automatically downloaded. This is done by going into each category and checking ‘Never’.
From that moment on, you will have to manually download any type of photo, video or file in general that you receive via WhatsApp. Something that will be appreciated by both your storage and the security of your computer.
Images | antonbe