Whatsapp not working highlighted wider issues.
Järvinen thinks that Whatsapp’s inactivity has made me think about its importance. Joel Maisalmi / AOP
On Tuesday around ten o’clock in the morning, the instant messaging application Whatsapp stopped working. Messages could not be sent or received. Data security expert Petteri Järvinen considers the case a good example of how we rely even too much on individual services and their functionality.
– It must have come as a surprise to many with the outage how important Whatsapp is in relation to how little it is talked about. It is a basic everyday service and for many, much more important than, for example, e-mail or Facebook. Many people rely on it for their daily lives: it helps them keep in touch with colleagues, hobby groups, children and even school. In many cases, we are completely dependent on Whatsapp, says Järvinen.
Järvinen highlights group chats in particular, which are one of Whatsapp’s most important features. There is practically no other effective way to keep in touch with many people at the same time, if you don’t include other instant messaging applications, which are much less used.
– Whatsapp is the overwhelming market leader in Finland. A year and a half ago, there was talk that Whatsapp’s terms would change and it would start collecting information. That’s when it was recommended that you change somewhere else. Whatsapp, however, as a product of Facebook, is on almost everyone’s phone – nothing can replace its position, Järvinen states.
The outage affects everywhere
Järvinen reminds us of a case that came to light a year ago, where it turned out that ministers were using Whatsapp in their work. He hopes that at the state level there would at least not be too much dependence on Whatsapp, but interruptions can be seen in the work of ministers and MPs.
– Running everyday life at the ministerial level is also important, i.e. how to communicate and who is responsible for what, for example. Such things are deceptively important, and they are not given the same attention as e-mail, for example. When the service one day falls out of use, there is an emergency at hand.
At the family level, interruptions can have a big impact.
– New types of digital families have emerged, where text messages or phone calls are not used at all, but everything runs on Whatsapp. You have probably never even thought about a situation where it wouldn’t work. There are traps without noticing that we are relying on some free service. Just from the point of view of security of supply, cyber attacks like this are dangerous, says Järvinen.
Järvinen highlights the extensive problems of Facebook, or the current Meta, which were caused by a configuration error. At that time, Meta’s services were down for a long time.
– This shows that such giant services are vulnerable in situations where a mistake occurs or if an employee does something bad on purpose. It is a global threat. Usually the problems can be fixed in a few hours, but it can be a critical time in some situations.
How to prepare?
Järvinen recommends everyone to be prepared for situations where services that are used a lot in everyday life do not work. In the current situation, it is particularly important.
– It would be good if the phone also had, for example, Signal. The most important friends and people would also be there, so you could contact them, advises Järvinen.
In addition, Järvinen recommends making sure that the phone’s address book is up-to-date, so that people can be reached by text message or by calling.
It would also be important to prepare children for situations where the services do not work.
– It would be good to tell the children what to do if mom or dad can’t be contacted on Whatsapp. Children’s phones should have speed dials for close relatives. Every family with children should definitely have this kind of preparation.