Today, Thursday, the instant messaging service (WhatsApp) announced some new features that aim to protect user accounts from theft through malware.
WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, said Published On her blog: “We at WhatsApp believe in the importance of providing privacy and protection for your messages, just as it is with any personal conversation.”
The company added: “Protecting your personal messages with end-to-end encryption is by default the basis of this protection, and we will never stop developing new features to give you Additional levels of privacyand a greater degree of control over your messages.
Over the coming months, WhatsApp will add three new protection features: account protection, device verification, and automatic security codes.
Account protection
Device verification
Mobile malware is one of the biggest threats to people’s privacy and protection today because it can use your phone without your permission and use your WhatsApp account to send spam.
To help prevent this from happening, WhatsApp has added verification processes to help authenticate your account, without action on your part, and provide you with enhanced protection if your device is compromised. This helps you to continue using WhatsApp without interruption.
Automatic security codes
WhatsApp said: “Our most security-conscious users have always been able to take advantage of… verification property of the security code, which helps ensure that you are chatting with the intended recipient.
You can check this manually by going to the encryption tab under the connection information. To make this process easier and smoother for everyone, WhatsApp is introducing a security feature based on a process called “Master Transparency” which allows you to automatically verify that you are using a secure connection. This feature means that when you click on the encryption tab, you will be able to check directly that your personal chat is secure.
WhatsApp indicated that, to increase protection, users can activate two important features: Two-factor authentication and use Backups are fully encrypted between the two parties.
It is noteworthy that WhatsApp introduced the end-to-end encryption feature 7 years ago, in April 2016, and then introduced the end-to-end encrypted backup feature for Android and (iOS) in October 2021. To block access to chat contents, regardless of where they are stored.
Two months later, in December 2021, WhatsApp, now used by more than two billion users in more than 180 countries, expanded the platform’s privacy controls by adding messages that disappear by default for all new chats.
