whatsapp vulnerability - non punting phone

[MerlinGray]

I was alerted to this by an SP.

It has allegedly been used. Call a Parlour with a personal phone and they cal log the number and look you up potentially getting your real ID depending on how public your details are.

Apologies if this has been discussed before but a real kick ip the ass for me ro make sure I use my punting phone.

But also check your WA settings too and tighten them

[Adoniron]

I'm not sure but why not look up your own number and see what you can find out. I believe there may be a risk if your phone number is linked to social media accounts like Facebook.

[daviemac]

Apologies if this has been discussed before but a real kick ip the ass for me ro make sure I use my punting phone.

The need for a punting phone has been discussed on here loads of times as well as numerous threads detailing how members have fallen foul of not using one. Some people have very public social media profiles so using anything that can be linked to that is pure stupidity.

If people are daft enough to ignore the warnings and not use their own common sense then . . . . . . . . . .

[mightymunce]

I'm not sure but why not look up your own number and see what you can find out. I believe there may be a risk if your phone number is linked to social media accounts like Facebook.

What settings should be tightened

[MerlinGray]

In Facebook privacy centre, go to How People Cam Find You, turn off email and phone.

Yes I agree using a civvy phone is stupid.

[scutty brown]

In Facebook privacy centre, go to How People Cam Find You, turn off email and phone.

Yes I agree using a civvy phone is stupid.

That may stop facebook lookups, but does nothing for other locations where the phone number may be stored.
You need to reiteratively search multiple times for your own phone number on google and the other online search engines, each time getting whatever you find, deleted. Can be a lot of work - and a long time - to get it resolved

[LLPunting]

In Facebook privacy centre, go to How People Cam Find You, turn off email and phone.

Yes I agree using a civvy phone is stupid.

This does not necessarily stop Facebook or whatever service that has scraped the info from suggesting things too you that will prove awkward if not destructive to you if discovered on your phone.
If you were stupid enough to expose your "private" details to a punting environment then:
1) avail yourself of one of the numerous data deletion services on the Web to delete it from all data brokers.
2) change your civvy number and the phone as IMEI and serials will be related to your number.
3) Never use your civvy logins/emails/devices for punting.

[LanceVance]

On WhatsApp, it is possible to change your profile name from your actual name to something more discreet. Anyone who has your number saved will have it show on WhatsApp as what they saved it as, not what your profile says. Just choose settings then type a more subtle name for your profile, such as initials. You can also change your avatar if it has your face or other personal features. If anyone asks, just say you wanted to be a bit more secure/fancied a change.