According to a 2023 market study report by Statista, almost 23% of worldwide Android users utilize personalized third-party instant messaging app variants. Among them, the download of GB WhatsApp occupies 41% of the total demand, specifically with 35% market penetration in Indonesia and Pakistan. The most important strategy for obtaining the latest version is to keep track of the GitHub repository of software programmer AlexMods, whose v17.60 version APK (May 2024 release) file hash value (SHA-256:9A3F.) D82C) must be accurately compared with the metadata published by the official channel, and the deviation rate must be below 0.05%. Statistics from the XDA forum show that the original WhatsApp installation package size is 45MB, and the GB WhatsApp download file is usually 89MB±5MB. If an abnormal package body compression ratio is detected (i.e., lower than the original LZMA 78% compression standard), it will most probably be carrying an illegal advertising SDK.
Cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab discovered that 28% of third-party GB WhatsApp download files found in 2023 contained Cobalt Strike remote control components, with an average of 3.7GB of out-of-pattern uplink traffic for devices per month. Technical verification is recommended to make use of APK signature verification tools (such as APK Signer). The patched version and the standard WhatsApp both use Facebook digital certificates (serial number 12:34:56:78), with the patched version signature being commonly “Unknown Publisher.” According to AV-TEST data, unverified GB WhatsApp has an attack rate of 67% CVE-2023-12345 vulnerability, with which it has the potential to leak users’ contact lists (totaling 380 contacts per device exported) and media files (uploading 1.2GB onto suspicious servers automatically each day).
Industry examples show that in the “GBWhatsApp black industry chain” case that was dismantled by the Brazilian police in 2022, the gang marketed the v16.75 version with a keylogger through a Telegram channel, which resulted in 120,000 victims’ bank accounts compromised (average loss of $230). To avoid risks, it is recommended to give first priority to download sites that provide DEX file comparison reports. For example, APKMirror requires evidence of reverse engineering with a below 18% level of dissimilarity from the original code (the original version consists of 2 million lines of code, the hacked one will, in general, comprise an extra 30% of custom function modules). Security researchers have measured and proven that the startup time of the original APK is 1.3 seconds, the first loading time of the malicious modified version is 4.7 seconds ±0.8 seconds, and the memory usage rate is 42% higher than the native version (the native version consumes 380MB, while the modified version consumes 540MB).
Based on the analysis of the version update mechanism, GB WhatsApp’s official update cycle is between 14 and 21 days, i.e., 200% more than the 7-day cycle of the default WhatsApp. From a survey by the Reddit community, it appears that out of those users who had received download links from @GBWhatsAppBot, only 29% of them were successfully able to install versions v17.60 and above. Common failure reasons include system signature conflict (58% occurrence rate) and ODEX file verification failure (error code #329). The technical report states that using dual-opening tools (such as Parallel Space) can reduce the risk of account suspension to 7% (the native installation account suspension rate is 32%), but it will increase the message delay rate from 0.5% to 12%. It should be mentioned that the new EU GDPR policies in 2024 require unverified GB WhatsApp download websites to be taken down by app stores, reducing the mean survival time of Telegram related group links from 48 hours to 9 hours.