McAfee and his team supposedly broke into WhatsApp’s encryption … err

John McAfee is many things – entrepreneur, alleged criminal and even presidential hopeful. As if these weren’t enough, he has added one more to the list – he along with his team claimed to have found a significant exploit in Google’s mobile operating system, Android.

As per his claim, the exploit allows him to read encrypted messages on WhatsApp and other messaging services. Before you uninstall WhatsApp thinking its privacy safeguards is junk, do read on.

While giving very little away as to how his tools exploits this vulnerability in Android, McAfee provided some basic details to Cybersecurity Ventures, which goes to suggest that his story might stand scrutiny.

As per LIFARS, the exploit does not involve getting root access on the smartphone, however there were heavy hints of spyware vulnerabilities and a keylogger. The exploit could potentially target any Android phone out there.

McAfee has said he will be sharing the details of the vulnerability with Google. If Google were to shed some more light on the issue it would be reassuring given McAfee’s rich background.

Bug just like stories which sound too good to be true, it turns out McAfee has added a new attribute to his name. Practical joker. As per Gizmodo, McAfee was trying to perpetrate a hoax.

So as to convince others of his hacking credentials, he sent reporters, “pre-cooked” smartphones with malware, in order to convince them of the fact that he had the necessary expertise to crack the encryption in WhatsApp. When reporters probed him for details, he reportedly changed his story to focus on a vulnerability in Android from breaking WhatsApp’s encryption.

McAfee’s response to Gizmodo on how the smartphone was infected with malware was rather colourful. He swears that the process in which the malware reached his phone is the story while his hoax is not.