The most widely used messaging app is by far WhatsApp. But that popularity comes at a price. Hackers frequently use SIM swap attacks and other methods to access your WhatsApp account. The messaging platform owned by Meta provides a number of security and privacy protections, including end-to-end encrypted backups and chats, however they are ineffective in these situations. To remedy this, WhatsApp is currently rolling out a number of new security features.

Currently, WhatsApp will prompt you to enter an OTP given to your phone number for verification whenever you move to a new device. A hacker could simply access your WhatsApp account using a SIM swap attack or if they can somehow obtain the OTP if you don’t have two-step authentication activated. WhatsApp wants to avoid this with Account Protect.

New security measures for WhatsApp

• Account Protect: The next time you switch to a new phone, WhatsApp will send you a prompt on your old device to confirm that you are actually switching devices. This extra step will aid in preventing hackers from trying to log into your account without your permission.
• Device Verification: Trojans and malware are a constant concern since they might infect your phone, access your WhatsApp authentication key, and use that information to send unwanted messages to your friends and family. WhatsApp is implementing Device Verification, which does additional background checks for account authentication, to stop this.
• Automatic Security Codes: WhatsApp has long allowed users to verify a chat’s security code to confirm it is end-to-end encrypted. However, this is a time-consuming process that necessitates scanning a QR code and matching its content with the recipient’s or manually checking that the 60-digit hash key displayed is the same for both parties. With Key Transparency, the Meta-owned messaging platform is now making this process easier. The next time you tap the encryption tab in a WhatsApp discussion, you’ll be able to see right away if the conversation is encrypted. You must still scan a QR code, but you will not be required to validate its content with the message recipient.

These new security features are already being rolled out, so you should see them sooner rather than later.