Opening a notification only to find out ‘this message was deleted’ can get extremely frustrating for many. At that time, the only thing you want is to have that message recovered somehow.
Ever thought a deleted data (text, images, and documents) can be recovered? An app on Android devices by the name of WAMR helps WhatsApp users recover messages deleted by the sender. WAMR can also work on Telegram or Facebook Messenger.
As more and more applications start to integrate the ‘message delete’ option in their apps, it is becoming a nuisance for the recipients to view a message, image or any other file that is no longer available.
Dangers of WAMR
While you might think you’ve landed on a great solution for recovering deleted messages, according to data protection experts, WhatsApp users are potentially giving up their privacy by using this app to recover deleted messages.
By downloading WAMR, you have to accept its permissions which are as follows:
This app has access to:
Storage
- Read the contents of your USB storage
- Modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
Photos/Media/Files
- Read the contents of your USB storage
- Modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
Other
- Full network access
- Prevent device from sleeping
- View network connections
- Control vibration
Security Risks
WAMR argues that it does not read user’s WhatsApp chats, but instead pick up messages from the notification section. Data protection experts from the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) examine this to be a security risk as users who install WAMR need to grant the app extensive permissions for it to recover deleted messages.
Learn more about WhatsApp’s End-to-End Encryption.
This could potentially compromise your data being operated by third-party applications, files stored in the device’s memory, Internet search histories, and even the device users’ contact list.
WAMR is available for download on the Play Store. Android needs to thoroughly scrutinize each app before it’s widely available for hundreds of millions of people. Since its inception, WAMR has over 10 million downloads, which means it has access to those user’s storage and might request additional permissions in the upcoming updates.
While WAMR is not a malicious application, it goes without saying that giving that many permissions to an application with no credibility can be risky. That’s not to say that malicious apps aren’t present on the Play Store.
Just recently, a group of data protection experts exposed at least 85 applications that were readily available on the Play Store containing malware or displayed advertisements that redirected users to malicious content websites or, in other cases, spam-infested sites.
Final Word
All in all, it’s best to stay away from downloading third-party apps that request such detailed access to your phone’s data. Without privacy, we’re exposing ourselves to evil-intended entities. Always use AES 256-bit encryption when you’re online and secure your internet activities.
PureVPN
June 20, 2023
10 months ago
