WhatsApp recently announced that several security features will be added in the coming months. For example, WhatsApp will double check if a user looking to switch his or her WhatsApp account to a new device is the authentic person.
From now on, WhatsApp may ask the user on his old device to verify if he intends to take this step as an extra security check. This feature can help alert the user to an unauthorized attempt to move his account to another device.
Mobile device malware is one of the biggest threats to people’s privacy and security today because it can take advantage of a user’s phone without his permission and use his WhatsApp account to send unwanted messages.
To help prevent this, WhatsApp has added checks to help authenticate the user’s account – with no action needed from the user’s part – and better protect the user if his device is compromised. This allows the user to continue using WhatsApp uninterrupted.
According to WhatsApp, security conscious users have always been able to take advantage of their security code verification feature, which helps ensure users that they are chatting with the intended recipient.
Users can check this manually by going to the encryption tab under a contact’s info. To make this process easier and more accessible to everyone, WhatsApp rolled out a security feature based on a process called “Key Transparency” that allows users to automatically verify that they have a secure connection.
When users click on the encryption tab, they will be able to verify right away that their personal conversation is secured. These are the three additional ways that WhatsApp is helping users secure their account.
While there are many things WhatsApp can do to make security easy for everyone, there are two features that only users can turn on: two-step verification and the use of end-to-end encrypted backups.
WhatsApp encourages users to inform their friends about these features so that more people can benefit from these layers of security.
