You have probably by now have read all about it, if not then you probably arenât on the internet much. Apparently there is a new âtextBombâ message doing the rounds courtesy of WhatsApp.
This âdestructiveâ message has the potential to crash or freeze your Android or iPhone.
OK so how does a plain old text message (with emoji) have such awesome power after all it is just this:
âThis is very interesting!â, with the âface with tears of joyâ emoji at the end (this oneđ) .
Wow such a simple message with such super powersâŠhow?
Well the secret is that it ISNâT A SIMPLE MESSAGE, in fact it is a very complicated list of commands for the app to alternate between left to right and right to left display of the hidden characters within the message (apparently 10,000 of these commands).
Just imagine if you were told to turn left then right 10,000 timesâŠyouâd fall over or die too.
But arenât our phones really powerful?
Well yes they are more powerful than the computing power used to launch the first rocket to space, but software can still have bugs (not the creepy crawly type).
It seems that WhatsApp has been targeted by a certain user of Reddit (who claims to have created the latest âText Bombâ message, and made it available to anyone to download from the online Pastebin repositoryâŠbad reddit user, bad.).
Please note I do NOT recommend downloading the message it could potentially crash of freeze on any computer, donât try it.
But itâs just a simple message right?
Well no itâs not, you see there are TENS OF THOUSANDS OF HIDDEN UNICODE COMMANDS for the software to instruct it how to display the message instead of what to display.
A simple message is never over 100 kilobytes, this message is that large due to the Unicode characters contained after the emoji but before the the end quote mark. (Impressive? Sneaky? A B4stard? Pure EvilâŠno thatâs FACEBOOK).
In warning us about the âdestructiveâ power of this message we were lead to headlines such as these:
The Mirror. had this Headline: â If you get this message, DON'T open it: WhatsApp 'text bomb' can crash your entire phoneâ
followed by a byline:âThe message, which was flagged on Reddit, looks innocent, but can have serious consequences if receivedâ.
MSNâs warning was more severe: âWarnings about WhatsApp 'text bomb' that could destroy your phoneâ
They begin their article with: âA âtext bombâ that could destroy your entire phone is being circulated on WhatsApp.â
Then there's this one from The Birmingham Mail: "This WhatsApp 'text bomb' is destroying recipient's phones - how to protect yourself"
Really, what's the worst that can happen......your phone will freeze up and you will have to restart or reboot. It won't Explode, be "destroyed" or have "serious consequences" as we are led to believe.
Well if they can use âclickbait headlinesâ I guess I can too. (So I did).
Recompiled using information from:
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2018/05/10/the-whatsapp-text-bomb-no-it-wont-destroy-your-phone/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/you-message-dont-open-it-12500845
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newsliverpool/warnings-about-whatsapp-text-bomb-that-could-destroy-your-phone/ar-AAwXMHT
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/whatsapp-text-bomb-destroying-recipients-14632421
https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsapp/comments/8gznfx/another_whatsapp_crash_message_created_by_me/
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