WhatsApp, the popular messaging platform owned by Facebook, has recently announced new security features aimed at protecting users’ accounts from unauthorised access. These new features include Account Protect, Device Verification, and Automatic Security Codes. These new features are important for user privacy considering that WhatsApp has come under scrutiny in recent years for its privacy practices.
WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption, which ensures that only the sender and recipient can read messages, has been praised by many for its security. However, when the chat company announced controversial changes to its privacy policy that would allow the app to share user data with Facebook, it sparked concern among users, many fearing that their private messages and personal information would at privacy risks. This led to many users switching to alternatives apps like Signal and Telegram. The new features could be seen as one of the ways to win back their trust.
ALSO READ l WhatsApp rolls out new group features for iPhone users: Details
Coming back to the new features, Account protect is meant for adding an extra layer of security to users’ accounts. If a user attempts to switch their WhatsApp account to a new device, they will be prompted to verify their identity on their old device before they can switch their account to new device. In simple words it means that if someone else tries to move the account to a different device without the user’s permission, they will be unable to do so without access to the user’s old device.
WhatsApp has introduced a new security feature called Device Verification to protect users’ accounts from mobile device malware. WhatsApp explains this feature as something that requires no additional steps from users and is designed to take advantage of the way people typically read and react to messages sent to their device. When a user receives a message, their WhatsApp client wakes up and retrieves the message from the WhatsApp server. This process cannot be impersonated by malware that steals the authentication key and attempts to send messages from outside the user’s device.
ALSO READ l WhatsApp to let users edit contacts without leaving the app: All you need to know about feature update
Third is the Automatic Security Codes- a new security feature that automatically verifies a secure connection without the need for a long 60-digit code. This feature is based on a cryptographic process called key transparency and uses a new Auditable Key Directory (AKD) that is built on an open-sourced library. The AKD allows WhatsApp clients to automatically validate a user’s encryption key and ensures that it is genuine. It also allows anyone to verify audit proofs of the directory’s correctness, which helps to increase transparency and accountability.
