WhatsApp Introduces Additional Security Measures: Account Protect, Device Verification, and Enhanced Privacy Settings
WhatsApp is making its platform safer by introducing three new security features. Here’s everything we know about WhatsApp’s new features.
BaluSingh Rajpurohit 
Meta today announced a bunch of new security features for its messaging platform, WhatsApp. The company already offers a host of security and privacy features to its users. The list, in addition to end-to-end encryption or E2EE, also includes features such as two-step-verification and group privacy controls. Today the company expanded this list by introducing three new security features.
Account Protect
As of now, there are no checks in place when users switch from one device to another. This narrow window can be used by malicious hackers to gain access to a user's account. Now, the company is making it safer for users to switch their WhatsApp accounts to a new device. The company says that from now on, the company may ask users to verify their identity on their old devices as an added security check. "This feature can help alert you to an unauthorized attempt to move your account to another device," the company explained in a blog post.
Device Verification
Mobile device malware is one of the biggest threats to people's privacy and security today as it can take advantage of a user's phone without their permission and use their WhatsApp to send unwanted messages. In a bid to prevent this, the Meta-owned messaging app has added checks to help authenticate users' accounts without needing any help from the company.
"When someone receives a message their WhatsApp client wakes up and retrieves the offline message from WhatsApp server. This process cannot be impersonated by malware that steals the authentication key and attempts to send messages from outside the users` device," WhatsApp wrote in a blog post explaining the feature.
Automatic Security Codes
Lastly, the company says in order to make the process of getting automatic security codes easier and more accessible to everyone, the company is rolling out a security feature based on a process called "Key Transparency". This feature allows users to automatically verify that they have a secure connection. "What it means for you is that when you click on the encryption tab, you'll be able to verify right away that your personal conversation is secured," the company wrote.
As far as availability is concerned, WhatsApp says that these features will be available to all users in the coming months.
