Cybercriminals take advantage of any opportunity to scam victims and WhatsApp has become one of the most effective channels. The most common techniques are spam and identity theft of companies or organizations such as the General Directorate of Traffic or postal services. Meta integrates security systems to prevent hacks in the messaging application.
One of the most unknown options among users is the possibility of linking the account with the mobile password manager. This can be done from the settings by pressing the three buttons that appear at the top right of the main screen, then go to “Account” and “Passwords”.
This feature links the WhatsApp account with the iOS and Android password manager that is previously enabled with a key. The messaging application also supports biometric access via fingerprint or facial recognition.
Turn on two-step verification to protect your account
Linking with email is a useful technique to recover an account that has been hacked or if WhatsApp temporarily suspends you. This has been the simplest way to solve these problems, but two-step verification is starting to gain popularity.
If you want to reduce the risk of your WhatsApp account being stolen, this option is the most important and is also managed from “Account” in the app settings. Two-step verification allows you to create a custom six-number pin.
Hide IP address in calls and chats
If you want to further strengthen account security You can protect your information from “Settings”, “Privacy” and “Advanced”. Here you must enable the “Protect IP during calls” function to prevent other users from accessing your location from another device, although WhatsApp warns that it will reduce call quality.
The second option you must activate is “Disable link previews”. This feature also prevents other users from tracking the IP address through links that are shared in the app’s chats.
Disable automatic media download
WhatsApp has the automatic download option for images, videos, documents and files active by default, but that can be configured from the settings in the “Storage and data” section.
At the bottom of the screen the functions “Download with mobile data” and “Download with Wi-Fi” appear along with a drop-down list with photos, audio, videos and documents; you must uncheck each item. This option also allows you to save data if you are not connected to the network.
The messaging application will not download elements without the consent of users in individual chats and groups, so the risk of suffering a cyberattack derived from a malicious file is reduced.
A last function that few users know about is blocking unknown contacts from the Advanced account privacy settings with beta version 2.24.20.16 for iOS. In addition, WhatsApp allows you to select a maximum of unscheduled users with whom you want to have a conversation.
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Tags: hackers, instant messaging, WhatsApp