Don’t download photos on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook… they will steal your data!

In the current digital age, the popularity and widespread use of millions of social networks like Facebook and Instagram and messaging applications like WhatsApp and email have revolutionized the way of communication in various sectors of the society.

However, this development has also come with significant cybersecurity risks, particularly through sophisticated techniques that insert codes into both photos and attached documents meant to collect private account information.

This strategy, known as steganography, is used to hide information in a message, making users of the digital spectrum susceptible to viruses or opening a file encrypted with algorithms that create risks in digital security.

Photos contain harmful information

Steganography involves making secret information invisible to the human eye, which has raised concerns when it is used to embed malware in ordinary files such as images, videos and documents.

Steganography has established itself as a major challenge in protecting against malware, which is any malicious software that is used by cyber criminals to infiltrate a device without the affected person’s knowledge.

The method in question goes one step further, by carefully modifying bits in a file, without changing its original format, eliminating any indication of the presence of malicious code.

This development marks an evolution in common perception regarding malware vectors, extending the threat beyond executable files to documents and, importantly, multimedia files.

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