Heena Sharma Blog

Facebook-owned WhatsApp is working on a feature that will delete messages automatically after a stipulated time as set by users, according to WABetaInfo, a fan site that tests new WhatsApp features early. Renamed " Delete Messages " from earlier " Disappearing Messages ", the feature is being tested in beta mode. "In the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.19.282 update, we presented a new feature called ' Disappearing Messages ' that will automatically delete messages after a certain time. The feature is still under development, and WhatsApp is starting to work again on it in the 2.19.348 update, where they renamed 'Disappearing Messages' to 'Delete Messages'," WABetaInfo reported. Once available, the "Delete Message" feature will come with a toggle on/off button and users can choose a stipulated time -- 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month or 1 year -- for the messages to automatically disappear. Read More

Mumbai-based Chtrbox, which was allegedly responsible for leaking data of millions of Instagram users, has said database for a limited number of influencers was inadvertently exposed but that did not include any sensitive personal data. The company termed the reports of private data being leaked as "inaccurate" and acknowledged that "a particular database for limited influencers was inadvertently exposed for approximately 72 hours". "This database did not include any sensitive personal data and only contained information available from the public domain, or self reported by influencers," it said in a statement late Tuesday night. On Tuesday, Facebook-owned Instagram said it is investigating whether a third-party - Chtrbox - improperly stored its user data in violation of its policies after reports that information of millions of users being available online allegedly in an unsecured database emerged. These reports said the database found onli...

Facebook and Instagram users lost access to the social network's applications in parts of the world Wednesday as a result of an outage of undetermined origin The California giant which has more than two billion users acknowledged the outage after users noted on Twitter they could not access Facebook or had limited functionality. "We're aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps. We're working to resolve the issue as soon as possible," a Facebook statement said on Twitter. A short time later, Facebook indicated the outage was not related to an attack aimed at overwhelming the network. "We're focused on working to resolve the issue as soon as possible, but can confirm that the issue is not related to a DDoS attack," Facebook said, referring to what is known as a distributed denial of service cyber strike. According to the website downdetector.com, outages were heaviest in North America an...

The IT ministry is mulling sending a third notice to WhatsApp asserting that it bring in 'traceability' of messages on its platform, even as the American firm has maintained that doing so will impact end-to-end encryption and violate privacy of users. According to government sources, an internal discussion was held on the issue and a third letter could now be sent to WhatsApp in the next 7-10 days. The IT ministry feels that technical solutions can be found to trace the originator of a message, without actually compromising end-to-end encryption, said a government official, who did not wish to be named. Citing examples of potential technical solutions that could be brought to the table, the official said traceability can be brought in for a message that has been forwarded to, say, a high number of users within a short span of time. Read More Article Source >> Business Standard