WhatsApp is safe now, as long as you updated it

If you have updated the WhatsApp app on your phone since yesterday, you are now secure. The world’s largest instant messaging application was yesterday found to have put its users at risk, because of a vulnerability in its code. The company patched the app through an update, and encouraged users to update immediately.

What WhatsApp faced yesterday though, is called a “zero-day exploit” in the cybersecurity space. A zero-day exploit is a vulnerability in software that was previously unknown to everyone, including users and the company. According to security experts, there is almost nothing that a user can do to protect against such threats, except the usual best practices.

“It’s hard to stop zero day threats… It’s called zero day because its known but doesn’t have a patch,” said Ashish Singh, an ethical hacker and CEO of software and app development firm bZird.