ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

The first messages of the morning weren’t about the New South Wales Origin selections, it was about something far more serious and much less pathetic.

They were about security.

Marcus Delroy’s shattered iPhone pinged to life this morning on his bedside table with the defacto leader of his WhatsApp group instructing all to update their app.

“We’ve been compromised, boys. WhatsApp’s been hacked,” the message said.

The 24-year-old’s first reaction was that one of his mate’s girlfriends had got a hold of a phone and seen all the shockingly inappropriate images and comments on the thread.

However, this time it was different.

The popular messenger service revealed overnight a vulnerability in its system that could have allowed hackers access to its users’ phones.

This latest breach in security is the latest in a long line incidents in Mr Delroy’s group chat which has seen participants suffer damage to their reputation and social worth.

Just last year, Mr Delroy says, a mate’s girlfriend opened his iPhone while he slept, using his fingerprint, and went through his phone.

What she found, she quickly shared with the girlfriend of the bloke responsible for the reprehensible content.

One of his friends named Jack, who’s name has been changed for privacy, had images of him goanna wrestling in the nude on the same day he told his partner that he was ‘too busy’ to attend her grandmother’s funeral.

In another incident, a meme shared by the same ‘Jack’ that showed Senator Derryn Hinch 69ing a clone of himself was shown to his boss, who laughed but said it was ultimately ‘sophomoric rubbish’.

The Advocate reached out to WhatsApp for comment but has yet to receive a reply.

More to come.









