KakaoTalk

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KakaoTalk is a comprehensive chat and messaging application which not only supports conversations on mobile phones, but this version is specifically for the Windows PC. The program supports many different functions that you would find on other programs like Viber or MSN Messenger, but can also send text messages to cell phones. KakaoTALK is the most funny App. Send messages, photos, videos, voice notes and your location for free. Kakao-Talk is a fast & multifaceted messaging app. Enjoy Free Call with clear voice all day!

Cyber Threats

Instant messaging apps are battling it out and trying to become the next popular means of communication that people will use. For example, in Japan, both Line and KakaoTalk - two popular chat apps - both claim to have more than 100 million users in Japan.It shouldn't be a surprise that cybercriminals are using the names of these apps for their own attacks; in this post we'll show how KakaoTalk is being targeted by attackers. (However, let's be clear that KakaoTalk is not being the only brand targeted; other brands and apps are also targets as well.) Users need to understand the threats posed by these malicious apps.First example: Trojanized AppKakaoTalkKakaotalk pcOne common way to create malicious apps is to take a legitimate version of the app and add malicious code to it. This creates a Trojanized app which, to the user, can appear to be normal. However, it actually contains malicious code.This particular Trojanized version of KakaoTalk is detected as ANDROIDOS_ANALITYFTP.A, and was distributed via email. If one examines the details of the app, one can see the differences between the legitimate app and the modified one:

Table 1: Differences between legitimate and Trojanized versions

In addition, when we examine the permissions used by the app, it's worth noting that the Trojanized app asks for more permissions than the legitimate app.

Figure 1: Permissions of 'ANDROIDOS_ANALITYFTP.A'

ANDROIDOS_ANALITYFTP.A seems to be a Trojanized app that can be used by eavesdroppers. This app regularly sends out contact information, text messages, and some phone settings to a command-and-control server from where the attacker can retrieve it.This process of Trojanizing is made easier because most Android apps are written using the Java programming language. Unless steps are taken to obfuscate it, the source code of any Java app is relatively easy to obtain; the attacker can then add or modify the code to introduce malicious behavior into the app.Second example: Fake appAside from Trojanized apps, fake apps have used KakaoTalk's name as well. About a month ago, KakaoTalk warned users via their official Twitter account of a “KakaoTalk Security Plugin”:

Figure 2: Twitter alert from KakaoTalk

We detect the fake security as ANDROIDOS_FAKEKKAO.A. Many users have fallen victim to this not just because it uses KakaoTalk's brand, but also because it uses “Security” in its name as well.What does this malicious app do when it's installed? It reads the user's contacts and uses the phone's text messaging feature to send messages to all contacts. Because of this, it is quite easy to notice that something has gone wrong with their device.What's most interesting about this fake app, however, was how it was distributed. The attackers used a hacked Google Play developer account to distribute a redirector app:

Figure 3: Redirector app

This redirector app contained ads that led to a variety of apps - including the fake security plugin. By doing it this way, the attacker was attempting to avoid scanners like Google's integrated Bouncer service.Best PracticesThe best way to protect against these threats is to avoid downloading apps from outside of Google Play - a tip we mentioned earlier when talking about the recent Android security vulnerability. Apps arriving from outside the somewhat curated Google Play store have frequently been a source of security problems for Android devices. Even then, users should check the developer of the app they're downloading, as well as any reviews, to verify that they are downloading legitimate apps.On-device security solutions (like Trend Micro Mobile Security) detect even threats which arrive outside of authorized app stores, providing an additional layer of protection.Developers, meanwhile, need to seriously consider the possibility that their apps can be Trojanized and used for malicious purposes. They need to consider putting in place the necessary defenses: obfuscation (to make analysis and Trojanizing of their apps harder) and code integrity monitoring (to ensure that alerts are raised if/when the app's code is modified and run). In addition, if the app can be built in such a way that sensitive information is handled online - so that stealing information becomes more difficult - it would also help make apps more secure and resistant to these attacks. KakaoTalk
KakaoTalk (카카오톡)
Screenshot showing the 'Live Talk' feature in a group chat
Developer(s)Kakao Corp.
Initial releaseMarch 18, 2010; 11 years ago
Operating systemiOS, macOS, Android, Bada, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Windows NT, Nokia Asha
Available in15 languages
Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Turkish
TypeMessaging app
LicenseFreeware
Websitekakaocorp.com/service/KakaoTalk

KakaoTalk (Hangul: 카카오톡), commonly referred to as KaTalk in South Korea, is a mobile messaging app for smartphones operated by Kakao Corporation. It was launched on March 18, 2010 and it is available on mobile and desktop platforms.

How to download kakaotalk on laptop

As of May 2017, KakaoTalk had 220 million registered and 49 million monthly active users. It is available in 15 languages.[1] The app is also used by 93% of smartphone owners in South Korea, where it is the most widely used messaging app for smart phones and personal computers.[2]

Service[edit]

In addition to free calls and messages, users can share photos, videos, voice messages, location, URL links as well as contact information. Both one-on-one and group chats are available over WiFi, 3G or LTE, and there are no limits to the number of people on a group chat. There are many other features as well.

The app automatically synchronizes the user’s contact list on their smartphones with the contact list on the app to find friends who are on the service. Users can also search for friends by KakaoTalk ID without having to know their phone numbers. The KakaoTalk service also allows its users to export their messages and save them.[3]

KakaoTalk began as a messenger service but has become a platform for the distribution of various third-party content and apps, including hundreds of games, which users can download and play with their friends through the messaging platform.[4] Through the 'Plus Friend' feature, users can follow brands, media and celebrities to receive exclusive messages, coupons and other real-time information through KakaoTalk chatrooms. Users can also purchase real-life goods through the messenger's 'Gifting' platform.[5]

On January 13, 2021, KakaoTalk released an emoticon monthly fixed-rate service. 'Emoticon Plus' is a service that allows unlimited use of Kakao's selected collection of emoticons for ₩3,900 per month. After subscribing to 'KakaoTalk Wallet', users can purchase the ticket through their own payment.[6]

Company business model[edit]

KakaoTalk, a free mobile messenger application for smartphones, revealed its first profits of $42 million in 2012 and $200 million in revenue for 2013. With 93% of South Korea's population using KakaoTalk on their smartphones, Kakao Corp. has provided users a large range of services including games and retail commerce.

Government surveillance[edit]

Following criticism of the South Korean government's response to the Sewol Ferry Disaster, Korean authorities announced a 'zero-tolerance policy' which involved investigation and detention of individuals deemed to be spreading libel through Internet media.[7] Some KakaoTalk users have received notices that their messaging accounts were searched by South Korean authorities.

KakaoTalk API[edit]

KakaoTalk made its platform API available for developers. The development stack currently supports iOS, Android, REST, and Javascript. A user administration-based API and a push-based API are currently available, and an analytic API is planned for release.[8]

Influence[edit]

Korean[edit]

A solitary chat room is a kind of open chat room, where many anonymous people gather to talk about specific topics, communicating only with images, without using text or emoticons. In other words, it is making a story out of images only.Similar chat rooms have sprung up as an open chat room that exchanges food pictures without a word became popular. As the popularity of the celebrity themed 'solitary chat rooms' grew, celebrities went into the chat room themselves.[9]

International[edit]

Kakaotalk Windows 10

KakaoTalk is available in 15 languages and used in over 130 countries.[10]

On July 26, 2011, Kakao Corp. established Japanese Corp., Kakao Japan and appointed Cha-Jin Park as a representative. According to company officials, the app appears to be very actively used in Japan.[11] When a massive earthquake hit Japan on March 11, 2011, KakaoTalk's messaging traffic in Japan surged as millions of people sought to confirm the safety of friends and family. KakaoTalk played an important role as a data network-based communication method; it successfully replaced disabled wired and wireless networks and helped connect the disaster-stricken.[12]

KakaoTalk has targeted countries in Southeast Asia where no dominant mobile messenger service stands. KakaoTalk is forming strategic partnerships in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, as well.[13] In 2013, KakaoTalk began airing TV commercials in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam featuring Big Bang. In the ads, local celebrities and Big Bang appear together to promote KakaoTalk.[14] In late 2013, Indonesia became the country with the second-most users of KakaoTalk, after South Korea, with 13 million users and the potential to become KakaoTalk's largest market worldwide. The former co-CEO of KakaoTalk, Sirgoo Lee, stated 'We grew our user base by more than 25 times in one year, so hopefully, we will continue at that rate.' KakaoTalk has tailored their service to the local environment by collaborating with local designers and companies to generate 'Indonesian-specific content'.[15]

In February 2014, KakaoTalk launched for Nokia Asha 500, 501, 502, and 503 devices, expanding its reach to users of a wider audience.[16]

Problems[edit]

Kakao does not store any of the user's chats over an extended period of time, so users often have the problem of losing the chat history when switching to a new device. While Kakao claims to provide a cloud backup feature to address this issue, this service has limitations as it does not back up open chats or longer messages, and backup file size is limited to 20.0 MB.

While users used to be able to perform ADB backup of the .db file to back up the application's data, this feature has blocked by Kakao as of app version 4.2.3. While it was still possible to downgrade the application to an earlier version to perform the ADB back up, even this feature has been blocked as of Android 7.0 Nougat.

This means that as of currently, there is no method for Android users to completely back up and transfer the application's data without rooting the device.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^'KakaoTalk on the App Store'. App Store. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  2. ^https://www.trutower.com/2013/12/23/kakao-number-of-users-revenues-and-profits-2013/
  3. ^'KakaoTalk TruTower'. 2013-02-06. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
  4. ^'Korean messaging app Kakao Talk's games platform grossed $311 million in H1 2013'. 2013-07-16. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  5. ^'South Korea's Kakao Pushes Boundaries of Social Media'. 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  6. ^윤, 민혁 기자 (2021-01-13). '카카오톡, 구독 서비스 '이모티콘 플러스' 출시... 월 3,900원'. 서울경제 (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  7. ^'South Korean's crackdown on online libel draws fire'. 23 Sep 2014. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 17 Nov 2014.
  8. ^'KakaoDevelopers API'. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-06-11.
  9. ^국민일보 '말 한마디 없이 무척 시끄러운… ‘고독한 채팅방’ 아시나요'
  10. ^'KakaoTalk CEO talks of innovation'. Korea Herald. 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  11. ^Koo, Bonguon. 'KakaoTalk, Going into the World 카카오톡, 세계로 간다.' Hani.co.kr. Korean Daily Hankyoreh, 26 July 2011.
  12. ^Lee, Jung-Ah. 'Korean Mobile App Helps Connect People After Quake.' Wall Street Journal Korea RealTime, 28 March 2011. Web. 08 Apr. 2013.
  13. ^'Kakao Close to Signing Morgan Stanley, Samsung Securities as IPO Advisers'. Wall Street Journal. 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  14. ^'KakaoTalk Offers Rare Sight of True Innovation'. BusinessKorea. 2014-04-21. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  15. ^'KakaoTalk Seeks to Boost Market Penetration in Indonesia'. The Jakarta Post=2013-12-16. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
  16. ^'Mobile messaging app KakaoTalk is now available for Nokia Asha phones'. Korea Herald. 2014-02-17. Retrieved 2014-04-21.

External links[edit]

Kakaotalk Sign Up

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