Top all-time · #16617
Sam Granger
Personal blog · samgranger.comsecurityprogramming
Sam Granger's personal blog at samgranger.com covers security and programming. Since 2012, 4 different Hacker News readers have linked it 12 times, most often “WhatsApp is using your IMEI number as password”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (3) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Sam Granger's posts on WhatsApp security, including a disclosure that WhatsApp used IMEI numbers as a password. Commenters cite them as evidence of WhatsApp's security problems.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 3 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Writer. Creator. Storyteller.
Most-linked posts?
- WhatsApp is using your IMEI number as password4 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2012-09-05
What Hacker News says?
The disclosure was previously published on Sept 5 (OP links to it) http://samgranger.com/whatsapp-is-using-imei-numbers-as-pass...
Comment linking /whatsapp-is-using-imei-numbers-as-passwords/
on “WhatsApp is broken, really broken”Submitted WhatsApp is using your IMEI number as password as a story · 156 points
HN discussionIn terms of huge blows to WhatsApp, nothing beats the original[1] leak which showed that WhatsApp was using IMEIs as a password. That didn't stop WhatsApp from growing into the behemoth (that its acquisition price states) it is. [1] http://samgranger.com/whatsapp-is-using-imei-numbers-as-pass...
Comment linking /whatsapp-is-using-imei-numbers-as-passwords/
on “WhatsApp AES decryption key for all chats leaked”Submitted Show HN: Using QR codes to pay bills as a story · 7 points
HN discussionI wrote a bit more in detail about this a while back: http://samgranger.com/whatsapp-is-using-imei-numbers-as-pass... Whatsapp, if you are listening, do the following.. Add an extra column to your database table where user 'credentials' are saved. Lets call it 'password'. Or call it realpassword if you're using password for the md5'ed IMEI/MAC. Now, leave it empty for a moment.. On your next client update, force you…
Comment linking /whatsapp-is-using-imei-numbers-as-passwords/
on “WhatsApp Hack”Submitted Why I prefer PayPal over Stripe as a story · 2 points
HN discussionShameless plug, but I used a jQuery timeline plugin to create my CV, since I found regular CV's boring. It's not that detailed, but it's less dull in my eyes. Still need o add my LinkedIn profile that will serve as the boring version. Ps. Doesn't look great on mobile yet.. http://www.samgranger.com/cv/ I still need to change a lot and I might end up taking a completely other approach. But I want to make it as intera…
Comment linking /old_cv/
on “Show HN: Built my resume as an interactive website, version-controlled on Github”Submitted Massive security vulnerability in iOS 5 & 6 as a story · 1 points
HN discussionDoesn't whatsapp have infamously bad security, despite its popularity? http://fileperms.org/whatsapp-is-broken-really-broken/ http://samgranger.com/whatsapp-is-using-imei-numbers-as-pass...
Comment linking /whatsapp-is-using-imei-numbers-as-passwords/
on “BBM Available for Android and iPhone ”No, they haven't :) I reported on the IMEI/Android issue by the way: http://samgranger.com/whatsapp-is-using-imei-numbers-as-pass... Ezio Amodio reported it for iOS & Windows phone shortly afterwards: http://www.ezioamodio.it/?p=29 & http://www.ezioamodio.it/?p=49
Comment linking /whatsapp-is-using-imei-numbers-as-passwords/
on “What’s Up With Whatsapp? Facebook Might Want To Buy It, That’s What”And it's back up: http://samgranger.com/mega.png
Comment linking /mega.png
on “Kim Dotcom's new Mega project”
