According to security expert Graham Cluley, the information harvested by the app is uploaded to a site called WhatsAppCopy. On this website, cybercriminals can enter the phone number of an Android device and gain access to private conversations for a fee, or course.The game "Balloon Pop 2" uploads the stolen data to a website called WhatsAppCopy, which touts the rogue game as a backup app for conversations.
Google clearly takes a dim view of the app, as it has now removed it from the official Google Play Android app store. But, of course, it’s quite possible that the app will be widely distributed via unofficial stores and future versions could be distributed using other disguises than a balloon-popping game.
The game Balloon Pop 2 is nothing to write home about but behind its simple exterior lies the ability to scoop up private conversations that you may have made via WhatsApp on your Android device, and upload them to a website called WhatsAppCopy.
The attacker can then visit the WhatsAppCopy website, enter the phone number of the Android device they are targeting, and (for a fee) access the private conversations.
The people behind the website and the BalloonPop2 game would probably argue that they are providing a legitimate service to people who want to create a remote backup of their WhatsApp conversations, and it’s not their fault if the game is misused by people trying to snoop on other people’s privacy.
WhatsApp needs to get better at security. If Android is going to allow apps like BalloonPop2 to scoop up users’ private conversations, then maybe WhatsApp need to do a better job of encrypting those conversations on the device itself.
Security researchers at McAfee tell me that they are adding detection of the offending BalloonPop2 application as Android/Ballonpoper for their customers, and I imagine other vendors will follow in due course.
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