Users of the “Snapchat” application called, through videos posted on social networking sites, to close the “remember” option within the “Snapchat” application updates, stressing that it allows photos of memories to be published among friends every year automatically. They emphasized that the update threatens the privacy of users and may cause leakage of images.
Two information technology experts called on social media users to follow necessary and important options when publishing photos, to protect privacy and not share them with unreliable people.
And they stressed that users of social networking sites may be exposed to a violation of privacy in the event that the settings and options are not changed by the user, explaining that application updates are optional that the user can reject or control.
Cybersecurity expert, Abdelnour Sami, said that with regard to the option to remember (Flash ack), this feature is present in “Facebook”, “Instagram” and some phone systems such as “iPhone”, and it is also available in “Snapchat” a few years ago. Years, as the memories are displayed after a year, specifically the saved images or videos, and not the images that have been specified who is allowed to view them, such as the (my yes only) feature that is seen by the user only, or the phone’s “camera roll”, when it appears. These memories after a year, the person chooses, either to save them in his device only, or to show them to friends, or to view them only without sharing or saving in the device, explaining that these photos are shared with friends only when choosing that and not automatic sharing.
As for the Memories option, Abdel Nour explains that it is a feature that was launched between 2016 and 2017, and through it, photos and clips that are filmed in “Snapchat” can be saved by clicking on the “download” arrow, and the person can choose to save them on the phone only, or on The phone and memories on “Snapchat”, or on memories only, calling on users to save them on the phone only.
With regard to the possibility of spreading pictures of girls and exposing them to extortion through the application, he indicated that with regard to sharing pictures with girlfriends, some girls share pictures with their friends and their friends take screen shots, pointing out that there is information circulating that “Snapchat” is safe for sharing pictures, because it appears A warning is given if a screenshot is taken, but this can be bypassed and a screenshot can be taken without the knowledge of the owner of the photos, and there are also those who take pictures with another phone, so sharing images is not safe at all.
He explained that with regard to sharing photos with strangers, many girls and boys befriend people on the Internet, exchange photos with each other and form a close relationship between them, but what some people do not know is that there are programs to send snapchat photos as if they were taken “immediately”. But in reality it may be a picture from the Internet of other girls, and this is what we call identity theft or identity theft, and here the boy or girl trusts the other deceitful party who may be an experienced blackmailer or just a person who wants to harm, whether a boy or a girl, and it is better not to get to know strangers And add friends only.
And Abdel Nour continued: “With regard to relying on saving photos in Snapchat; Many people save photos on Snapchat by virtue of it being (online) and the photos will never be lost if the phone is lost, stolen or broken down, but the problem is that if the account is hacked, the hacker will see the photos saved in the memories, and let us assume that the account holder He stored the images in my eyes only. The hacker tries a set of numbers that may work, especially if the number is the birthday of the account holder or a unique number, and he must use a number that is not associated with the account holder.
The cybersecurity expert called for not sharing the personal account with anyone, “out of love or friendship.” Trust is not built on this type of sharing, and as soon as a dispute occurs between the two parties, one of them exploits the other’s account for the purpose of revenge. And he revealed that sharing photos in the Asturi (stories), even if it is limited to friends only, is saved by the “Snapchat” company, and it has the right to use the photos, and therefore we must always read the privacy policy of each application, even if quickly, in order to know our money and what We. He stressed that there are programs called “third-party programs”, including, for example, “Snapchat Plus” and others, which contain a number of features, but what users do not know is that these applications obtain all your images, and the program developer or distributor obtains them. Therefore, programs other than the parent company should not be used, indicating that if the device is hacked, it is natural that all photos, files, accounts, and programs will be exposed to successive hacking.
In turn, the social media expert, Mohamed Fathi, said that if the “Snapchat” application contains a security vulnerability that allows hackers to hack phones, there are settings for safe uses that can be followed, such as not giving the camera permission to access the video or allowing the application to access photos at the time of use. .
He added, “The application settings can be set so that it does not have access to the stored files, and therefore when the application has the ability to access these images, the person can share them with his friends.”
He revealed that the last official update of the application was at the end of last February by introducing a “bot” service called “My AI”, which is a service available to application users who are subscribers to the paid “Snapchat Plus” service, and “My AI” is run by default, and to use that service , the user has to swipe the screen to the right to switch to the camera screen and then the chat screen opens.
Fathi stressed that privacy protection on the application is similar to other applications, especially since the degree of privacy protection on various means of communication does not reach 100%, especially if the person wants to spread.
He pointed out that to protect privacy, the personal password must be protected, not to click on links transmitted from unknown people, not to share information with people you do not know enough, not to use the application as a third party to subscribe to other applications, as well as not to give the application the ability to access your personal information. , and the use of automated applications such as those that display your appearance after 50 years and others, and therefore the user must be aware of who shares his data and information with.
Users of social networking sites may be exposed to privacy violations if the settings and options are not changed by them.
fake accounts
Cybersecurity expert, Abdelnour Sami, pointed out that many people register “Snapchat” with a fake account, for example, he writes randomly [email protected]Hackers take advantage of this and register that email and then recover the Snapchat account, so do not ever register with a fake email account, and register with a phone number only if you do not have an email or are not good at using it. He stated that many blackmailers and hackers communicate and claim that they provide technical support for the “Snapchat” account, document or increase followers, and they need the “code” that arrives on the number, and here they must be ignored, and only people in the country in which you reside should be trusted, and they have a good reputation and knowledge. between people, and never deal with unknowns.
