The increase in scam calls on WhatsApp, during which attempts are made to extract personal information about Russians and their relatives, is causing significant concern. This opinion was shared by Viktor Ievlev, head of the information security department at the Garda group of companies, who alerted Russians to the potential dangers of engaging in such dialogues.
«Integrating artificial intelligence into cyberattacks makes them more covert and effective. Particularly dangerous are instances where a person doesn`t even need to click anything – merely receiving a message or call can be sufficient for malicious software to activate,» Ievlev stated.
He recalled a vulnerability discovered in the messenger back in 2019 that allowed malicious code to be installed on a victim`s device without their interaction after just a single call. More recently, another vulnerability existed which was exploited by developers of the Graphite spyware, created by the Israeli company Paragon Solutions.
«Attackers would add selected users to a group chat and send a PDF file. The messenger automatically processed the attachment, enabling Graphite to be installed. This trojan allowed attackers to collect messages, files, and geolocation data from the device,» Ievlev explained.
He added that Russians should adhere to all basic digital security practices: utilize maximum protection in messengers by setting all available passwords and two-factor authentication, disable automatic file downloads in apps, and turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when not in use. Furthermore, he advised always operating under the assumption that the device might already be compromised and therefore not storing encryption keys, passwords, or backups directly on it.
Meanwhile, the State Duma has recommended disabling calls from unknown numbers within Telegram and WhatsApp. According to Sergey Boyarsky, head of the parliamentary committee on information policy, this feature should be activated on devices used by children and the elderly to safeguard them from scammers.
