Despite the presence of multiple competitors and its ban in countries such as China, WhatsApp remains the most popular instant messaging platform in the world, making it easy to send billions of messages, files, images, videos and even stickers on a daily basis.
Being so useful and popular, this platform has attracted the attention of threat actors, who see it as a resource to obtain confidential information from a person of interest, which is possible without even interacting with the target user.
That is why it has become necessary for all users to know the security features shown below, which will protect their WhatsApp accounts from cybercriminals.
Delete or change your profile picture: A profile picture can say a lot about people, so it would be preferable to use a somewhat more impersonal image or even not use any photo at all. To do this, go to the WhatsApp settings, press the Edit Profile option and once inside replace your current photo with another image.
WhatsApp settings also allow you to choose who can see your profile picture, if you want to keep your personal photo.
Turn off double checking: Disabling this feature of the app will allow you a greater degree of privacy, as your contacts in the app won’t be able to know at what precise moment a message was read.
This setting is changed in the Account menu and then entered to Privacy – Read receipts.
Delete the last connection: You can modify this function by entering settings, in the Account section and the Privacy option. This way, no one will know when you last entered WhatsApp.
Hide the “typing…” feature: Your WhatsApp contacts won’t be able to tell when you’re composing a message if you want. To do this you must download a complementary application, so it is up to the users to consider whether it is worth taking so much trouble.
Listen to voice memos without the sender knowing: To do this, you must have a contact with your own number and then enter the voice note sender’s chat. Before playing it, you’ll need to forward it to your own chat.
Hide your statuses and any other information: If you don’t want any user to have access to these details, you can go to the Account menu and select the Privacy section. In the Information option, you must modify the public visibility of this data.
Prevent anyone from adding you to a group: Log in to Account, and in the Privacy section, modify the settings for the Groups option to prevent spam.
To learn more about information security risks, malware variants, vulnerabilities and information technologies, feel free to access the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) websites.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
