13 Apr. (Portaltic/EP) –
WhatsApp has added additional security features to protect the account when they are made device changesprevent ‘malware’ from a device from affecting the application or verify that the connection is secure with new automatic security codes.
The instant messaging platform uses the end-to-end encryption as the main security and privacy claim when it comes to protecting the information that is shared in conversations. This encryption system is what helps to ensure that only end users can see what is sent and no one else, not even WhatsApp, can access that content.
In this sense, the social network continues to implement ways to increase and improve data protection within the application to be “as private and secure as a face-to-face conversation,” with new features that they will implement for the users in the next months, as it has developed in a release.
One of the functions presented is the implementation of notices for warn user in case there is a unauthorized attempt of switch the account to another device. In case you want to change the WhatsApp profile to a new device, the ‘app’ will ask the user to confirm this action in the old terminal, as an additional security check.
In this way, WhatsApp confirms that it is the user himself who wishes to carry out the change and not an external actor who is trying to steal the account or impersonate his identity.
Another novelty presented is the device verification. It’s about a smartphone analysis or tablet for check that there is no infection or that it is not compromised in some way.
Currently, the installation of ‘malware’ on devices is very common and, therefore, it has become “one of the biggest threats” to privacy and the safety of people, as WhatsApp recalls, since an infected computer can cause an external actor to take control of the ‘app’ and send unwanted messages from the user’s account.
Taking this into account, the platform will perform a terminal verification automaticallywithout the need for the user to intervene, to verify that there is no risk and continue using the ‘app’ as normal.
Finally, the social network has introduced the use of automatic security codes. According to the platform, for users to trust end-to-end encryption, the “ends”, that is, the users who participate in a conversation, must knowing that each other’s encryption keys “are authentic and valid.”
For this, there is a verification option with security code available in the contact information of a userin the ‘Encryption’ tab, which allows the user to ensure that messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted. this option show a QR code, that can be scanned on the other person’s ‘smartphone’, or a 60 digit code to be shared with the recipient.
However, the platform has admitted that it is a “cumbersome” process, so, facing facilitate verification of encryption end-to-end, has implemented a new feature to automatically check if the connection is secure called ‘Key transparency’. With this method, when the user clicks on the ‘Encryption’ tab, he will be able to immediately verify that his conversation with the intended recipient is secure.
