Last summer, <MomoChallenge>, the terryfing challenge that was shared via WhatsApp, became popular between the teenagers. It incited them to make dangerous challenges, even ending in death, just to not be a victim of a “curse”.
This weird style caused a lot of injuries and mental damage in kids and teenagers. But now, it seems that it has come back in a different way.
According to the North Ireland Police, the cyberdeliquents are using the “MomoChallenge” to steal information, blackmailling or inserting some kind of malicious code in the smartphone, as they confirmed in their Facebook page.
According to Panda Security’s experts explanations, company specialised in security, the moment that the kid begins a conversation with Momo, his personal data, his phone number, his profile picture and his name will be stored in the hackers’ archive. And this begins in a simple way: when a contact resends you the image of “MomoChallenge” via WhatsApp, as any other scam, and user clicks on it. That’s how the hacker gain access to the phone.
From this moment, the cyberdelinquents “can obtain from the conversations a lot more of informations”, said the experts. If they enter in a kid’s smartphone, the problem is bigger, because they’re capable of make them believe lies, they detect their submission’s level to the threats or even if they have a self-esteem problem.
“All of this information is stored by the hacker for being able to contact them from other place aside from Momochallenge in the future. This way, they will know with what kind of person they’re talking and which scam or blackmail is better for each situation”, explained from Panda Security.
We are in front of a type of plannified attacks where hackers use a marketing strategy known as “Lead nurturing”: it is based in obtaining signs and evidences of the personality of each person to help them on the process while buying online. However, the cyberdelinquents “could be building a net to know which persons are easier to attack and when is the perfect time to do so.
“The phone is an instant door to any place in the world”, remembers Hervé Lambert, Global Consumer Operations Manager of Panda Security, who insists on the need of protecting the younger ones, teaching them about the use of new technologies.
“As it musn’t be accepted a present from an unknown person, it musn’t be added a person we dont know, who also is bad looking, to our contact list.” said. The parental controls, in these cases, helps a lot. “Every precaution is low when we talk about Internet connections of the little ones in house”, remembers the expert.