WhatsApp is implementing a series of security fixes, over the next 24 hours, to fix a flaw in its messaging service. WhatsApp confirmed to us on Friday that the firm has patched an issue that allowed a third-party website to update any users' status message. The website, WhatsAppStatus, appears to have used one of a number of exploits discovered in December to modify status messages on the service. Exploiting a users status message simply required their phone number and a status message.

"This issue has been patched for now," explained a WhatsApp spokesperson. "We will be implementing a series of stronger fixes in the next 24hr." The website exploit, first made available on January 3, no longer works and we have asked the company to confirm whether it plans to address other flaws in the service as part of its "stronger fixes". WhatsApp, available on a variety of mobile devices, has suffered from security flaws in the past, some of which have since been addressed. WhatsApp originally launched in 2009, and now handles over one billion messages a day.