WhatsApp scam has gradually become a common thing for anyone to fall victim to, although it is still a secure way to message others.
Mostly, hackers use social hacking methods to get hold of your WhatsApp accounts, which is tricks you into giving them access.
After all, if the phone of one of world’s most powerful man, Jeff Bezos can be hacked, the same can happen to any one of us as well.
But thankfully, it’s fairly simple to enable an extra layer of security on your account. Here are certain measures you can use to protect your WhatsApp account from hackers.
Enable Two-Step Verification
You must have been hearing this term a lot these days. Two-Step Verification, aka Two-Factor Authentication or 2FA, is the primary key to protect any account online. If you already haven’t, make sure to protect your Google account and Apple ID with Two-Step verification. Now, let’s find out how to enable Two-Step verification on the WhatsApp account.
Somewhat confusingly, the PIN is also six digits long. In order to set it up:
- Open WhatsApp and tap the three dots on the top right of the screen
- Hit “Settings” > “Account” and then pick “Two-step verification”
- Hit “Enable,” and then pick your six-digit PIN.
Never share your six-digit WhatsApp code with anyone — not your parents, not your best friend, and definitely not your sibling. No one will ever have a legitimate reason to ask for the code that WhatsApp sends you over SMS, so don’t even think about sharing it.
Should the worst happen, then setting up a PIN will act as another barrier to stop someone from being able to sign in to your account, and it will stop this nightmare from happening to you.
Don’t click on any suspicious link
Do you keep getting random links as messages from your contact on WhatsApp? Well, then you should never click on links that you find fishy. In fact, it’s a good idea to first known what the sent link is all about from your contact and then click on it. Some reports suggest that WhatsApp is working on a “suspicious link” feature, which will make it easy for users to find out a certain link is authentic or not.
Tweak those privacy settings
WhatsApp provides various privacy options to the users. The messaging platform provides users with options to choose who they want to share their profile photo, status, and other details with. It’s a good idea to change the Setting to “Contacts only”. This means only phone number that are saved on your smartphone will be able to see your profile photo, status, phone number, and auto-delete status as well.
Deactivate WhatsApp when phone is stolen, lost
Losing phone is a very common phenomenon. In this case, you should ensure to deactivate WhatsApp account before someone else hacks it and gets access to all your personal data. To deactivate WhatsApp account, go to Settings, Delete my account option, enter phone number, and then click on “Delete my account”.
Remember to log out of WhatsApp Web
We often have the tendency to login to WhatsApp Web at office and then leave the account open on the desktop. This habit can actually create problems for you. Someone else sitting on the same PC can access all your chats without you even realising it. It’s a good practice to Logout from WhatsApp Web before leaving office. It’s just takes seconds to login again. Just scan the code and you’re done.
Lock WhatsApp screen
Try out WhatsApp lock screen option available on Android. This will ensure no one else can but you can open your WhatsApp account. Just head to Settings menu, Privacy, and then select Screen Lock option. You will then need to register your fingerprint. After the process is completed, you will have to scan your fingerprint every time you open the WhatsApp app. This adds an extra layer of security.
End-to-end encryption
All WhatsApp users should ensure that their chats are end-to-end encrypted. To verify that a chat is end-to-end encrypted, open the chat, tap on the name of the contact to open the contact info screen, and then tap Encryption to view the QR code and 60-digit number. WhatsApp end-to-end encryption ensures that only you and your contact can read the messages that are being exchanged and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp.
