Meta's WhatsApp is one of the most commonly used social media platforms for day-to-day communication, in both the personal and professional spheres. Like any other social media platform, WhatsApp is vulnerable to security risks too. With over 2.7 billion users worldwide, Meta has been regularly rolling out several features that enhance and contribute to improved and secured environments for its users.
The Meta-owned channel has designed the WhatsApp app with world-class security and innovative tools, allowing users to control their messaging and calling experience. Additional layers of protection have been inserted along with two-step verification to restrict scammers and hackers from gaining access to user data.
Alongside these tech advantages, here are a few hacks that the director of Growth and Privacy, Uzma Hussain at WhatsApp has shared to safeguard a user's account from security breaches.
If you are a target of surveillance, secure your WhatsApp.
December 19, 2023
1. E2EE is on by default.
2. Turn on Disappearing Messages for all your chats
3. Turn on E2EE Backups or disable them
4. Chat Lock for sensitive chats
5. For calls, Silence Unknown calls & Call Relay
Threat models👇1. Optimise The Use Of Disappearing Messages
Users can enable disappearing messages to ensure their messages and media get automatically deleted from the chat history after the selected timeframe.
How To Enable Disappearing Messages Feature?
Step 1: Visit the Settings section of the app
Step 2: Click on the Privacy option
Step 3: Select the Default message time and select a timer from 24 hours to 90 days2. Opt For End-To-End Encryption For Back-ups
Messages are by default end-to-end encrypted on WhatsApp. Enabling this for back-ups on Google Drive and Apple iCloud will ensure that even the cloud storage service providers won't be able to access your messages.
A user can go to WhatsApp settings, click on Chats, select Chat Back-ups, and avail end-to-end encrypted backup.3. Lock Sensitive Chats
Set a special passcode for chats that you want to keep private and inaccessible to others. All you need to do is select the individual's profile picture, click on the lock chat option, and set the passcode.
4. Silence Unknown Calls To Safeguard Against 0-Click Attacks
Do calls from unknown numbers make you anxious?
Users can visit the Privacy section in their settings, click on Calls and tap to silence unknown callers. While calls will still show in the calls tab and notifications, you can be assured of some protection against cyber attacks via WhatsApp calls.
5. Enable Call Relay To Safeguard Against IP Surveillance
WhatsApp introduced a new call relay feature that makes it challenging to track the user's IP address. A user can click on Privacy in the WhatsApp settings, select the Call option, click on Advanced and enable Protect IP address in calls to protect the user's IP address.
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