Is the Clubhousse safe?? Five potentially dangerous things about the new social network

February 2021 was a stellar time for a new voice-only social network. Thanks to the support of media personalities and active PR in the media and other social networks, the audience of the new site has already shown unimaginable growth rates 1800% in America alone from February 10 to 16 . At the same time, Clubhouse is still available only for iPhone and only by invitation to users who already have an account. The social network creates intrigue and a desire to be a part of this “closed” club. But is it safe? On a wave of hype, users rarely think about their safety. Experts at Roskatchestvo’s Digital Expertise Center point to five potentially dangerous things about Clubhouse.

The danger starts at the threshold: Clubhouse requests access to your contact list

When you install the ClubHouse app, it asks for permission to access your contact list and then prompts you to invite everyone in the user’s address book. There is no opportunity to delete information that a user has shared with the service.

Technically, the administration of the social network explains the need to scan contacts with the issuance of invites. However, for this purpose it is not yet possible to enter a specific user number, you have to give the social network access to the entire phone book.

In essence, the social network user himself tells the developers which people he is connected to and how they are connected to him the app tells how many contacts have acquaintances who already use the social network . Also, when a new user registers, Clubhouse sends push notifications to their contacts and offers to create a private room to greet them. It is easy to imagine the awkward social situations that can arise. In addition, it’s unclear what social connection data and in what form the app stores. If you don’t agree with this policy of giving your contacts to the social network, it’s better to wait with registration until this point is corrected and clarified.

Exclusive memberships attract scammers

Scammers exploit the inability to sign up for a social network for nothing. Avito, “Yule” and other sites, as well as social networks and messengers started offering to buy invitations invites to Clubhouse with an advance payment from a symbolic few hundred Dollars to 15 thousand and even more. Of course, after payment the buyer receives no invoice and loses the money. At present, because of the numerous fraudsters, ad platforms began to completely prohibit the publication of any ads with Clubhouse in the title, but most likely, the fraudsters will find a way to exploit this topic until the social networking site is no longer closed.

Anton Kukanov, head of Roskachevo Digital Expertise Center.

“Do not buy invites from Clubhouse, as no one can guarantee you the integrity of the transaction. If you really want to get on the site, it is better to ask your acquaintances or friends on other social networks if anyone has an opportunity to invite you.”

The exclusivity of the platform also attracts fraudsters

A huge number of developers, including enthusiasts, are currently working on the possibility of launching an Android platform. However, of course, fraudsters also saw their chance in this newsworthy occasion. The network is already flooded with fake applications that claim to represent the long-awaited version of Clubhouse for smartphones running on operating systems other than iOS. Anything can be inside, for example a mobile game, project management application or even a virus. Some developers even temporarily rename their applications to “ClubHouse” to be downloaded by accident, wanting to catch a wave of hype. One way or another, none of these apps in the Google Play Store and even less so on unofficial sites have anything to do with the popular voice messenger.

Anton Kukanov, Head of Roskatchestvo’s Center of Digital Expertise

“Our recommendation is to wait for the official Clubhouse app for Android from the developers of the original Alpha Exploration Co program, but in the meantime follow the anti-phishing rules from Roskatchestvo. Ideally, don’t download any unofficial versions of Clubhouse for Android at all, as no one can guarantee the security of such apps.”

Your conversations are being recorded, and they can leak into the hands of third parties

The social network has a formal prohibition on recording conversations without written permission from all parties to the conversation, and there is even a threat of account blocking for this. However, the service itself neglects its own rule: the privacy policy, which the user accepts, says that Clubhouse can record conversations in the rooms and store them for a while. This is due to security concerns anti-terrorism, hate speech or disclosure of personal data .

Apparently, these records can be stored for quite a long time. On February 20, it became known about the hacker attack, which leaked into the network conversations of some users who were in a closed room. So, technically such a hack is possible and most likely we should expect more incidents. A hacker attack, however, is not necessary: users can bypass call recording restrictions with third-party applications.

Anton Kukanov, Head of Roskachevo Digital Expertise Center

“Try not to say anything to ClubHouse that you would not be able to say in public without blushing. Don’t discuss confidential information, don’t be deceived by apparent privacy of the service. Remember this is a social network, not a private chat in a messenger, and conversations can leak outside the company’s servers”

Clubhouse has general security questions According to a study by Stanford Internet Observatory SIO cybersecurity experts, the developer is directly using the work of Chinese company Agora to transmit audio in real time. Analysis of traffic by specialized software Wireshark showed that as of mid-February 2021, user data is transmitted in the clear to Chinese servers without encryption. It is unclear for what purpose and to what extent the Chinese company may use this user data.

So, at the moment ClubHouse doesn’t meet the basic security criteria. The social network is rapidly evolving, and perhaps the best solution is to wait until these problems are fixed as was the case with Zoom .