Whether it’s with your family or friends, if you use WhatsApp it's likely that you're a member of several different group chats.
But a worrying new finding suggests that your WhatsApp groups may not be as private as you think they are.
Jordan Wildon, a multimedia journalist at DW News has discovered a glitch that could let anyone join your WhatsApp Groups.
The issue appears to lie in the ‘Invite to Group via Link’ feature, which allows users to to send friends a link to their WhatsApp Group.
Mr Wildon discovered that many of these links are readily available on Google, meaning anyone could access your group.
He explained: “Your WhatsApp groups may not be as secure as you think they are.
“The ‘Invite to Group via Link’ feature allows groups to be indexed by Google and they are generally available across the internet. With some wildcard search terms you can easily find some… interesting… groups.”
According to Jane Manchun Wong, a reputable leaker based in Hong Kong, the issue is due to a ‘misconfiguration’ by WhatsApp, and has left around 470,000 groups vulnerable.
She explained: “A misconfiguration by WhatsApp enabled ~470k Group Invite links to be indexed by search engines.”
While it remains unclear exactly which groups are affected, replying to Ms Wong, one user revealed that he’d been able to jump into someone’s group uninvited.
They posted a screenshot, writing: “Just jumped into someone's group uninhibited. This needs fixing and quick.”
Mirror Online has contacted WhatsApp for comment.
