Outline
Circulating social media messages claim that Kik Messenger is a hacking tool or virus that can steal your personal information.
Brief Analysis
The claims in the warnings are untrue. Kik Messenger is a legitimate cross-platform messaging application for smartphones and is in no way malicious. The supposed warning was not aired by Sky News as claimed. The message is nonsense and should not be reposted.
Example
DONT IGNORE THIS!!! Kik is a hacking scheme made by professional Japanese hackers, yes they will hack your phone, it starts off by your phone going slowly! So delete it as soon as! Not even a joke not unticking coz this is IMPORTANT
If anyone has KIK messenger delete it its just been on sky news its a virus hacking your phones and stealing you information for e.g your phone contacts, login details etc please forward this to warn others !
Detailed Analysis
According to a series of breathless warnings that are currently rocketing around Facebook and other social media sites, Kik Messenger is actually a “hacking” scheme and a virus that can steal personal information from your phone. The message advises users to delete the app and pass on the information to warn others.
However, the claims in the “warnings” are utter nonsense. Kik is a perfectly legitimate multi-platform messaging application for smartphones that was launched in October 2010. It is in no way malicious. It is not a virus, nor is it a “hacking scheme” that allows hackers to steal information from your phone.
Moreover, the warning was not aired on Sky News as claimed in the message. In fact, no credible news or security outlet has any mention of KiK being a hacker tool. There are, however, plenty of articles discussing the merits of the app. And, Kik has become one of the leaders in its field with over 6 million users.
Given that the application has been reviewed and tested at length by a great many smartphone experts since its 2010 release, it is simply absurd to suggest that, somehow, the supposed sinister hacking abilities of the app were overlooked. And, KiK is freely available via the app stores of the major smartphones, including iPhone, Android, and Nokia. If the app was malicious, it would have long since been removed from these app stores.
Thus, these warnings are without substance and spreading them further will help nobody.
Research by David White, Brett Christensen
