WhatsApp Brings Many New Security Features To Prevent Users From Hacking

JAKARTA - WhatsApp introduced a new security feature that will help prevent attackers from taking over user accounts, and spreading malware while providing more guarantees with whom users communicate on the app.

These features are built based on Meta's focus on applications that must be private and safe like direct conversations. WhatsApp states that end-to-end encryption is the fundamental security of the application.

Account Protect is one of the features that will protect users from account takeover. This tool will be active when the user switches the account from the old device to the new device.

Users will probably receive pop-up messages on older devices asking to verify that they really want to switch from that device.

"If you need to transfer your WhatsApp account to a new device, we'll make sure that it's you. From now on, we'll probably ask on your old device to verify that you want to take this step as an additional security check," WhatsApp said., quoted by VOI from the official website, Friday, April 14.

"This feature can help warn you if there are unauthorized attempts to move your account to another device."

WhatsApp realizes mobile device malware is one of the biggest threats to user privacy and security, as it can take advantage of their phone without permission and use WhatsApp to send unwanted messages.

Therefore, the company added a new action, dubbed Device Verification, to protect users from malware, where they don't have to take direct action.

"In order to help prevent this threat, we have added checks to help authenticate your account without the need for any action from you and better protect you if your device is compromised. This allows you to continue to use WhatsApp without interruption," WhatsApp said.

The Meta-owned messaging app is also expanding the Security Codes feature, to help ensure user chats actually reach the intended recipients.

"You can manually check it by opening the encryption tab on the contact info section. To make this process more efficient and accessible to everyone, we launched a security feature based on a process called Key Transparency, which allows you to automatically verify that you have a secure connection," WhatsApp explained.

"It means, when clicking the encryption tab, you will be able to immediately verify that your private talks are safe."

New features will be rolled out to all WhatsApp users in the coming months. Meanwhile, if you want to secure an account, WhatsApp advises users first to enable two-factor authentication and encrypted backups.