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On Tuesday, WhatsApp unveiled a fresh set of security measures designed to give users greater protection against account takeovers and other online threats.
The new tools include enhanced two-step verification, support for multiple passkeys on the same account and added information about calls received from unknown numbers. The move reflects a wider push by messaging platforms to simplify account security as phishing, hacking and other scams become increasingly sophisticated. WhatsApp, along with services such as Signal and Telegram, has been introducing new safeguards aimed at helping users protect their accounts without adding complexity, as per TechCrunch. Until now, WhatsApp's two-step verification has used a six-digit PIN as an extra layer of protection to prevent someone from taking over an account even if they're able to obtain the user's one-time passcode. Now, users can choose a longer, alphanumeric password with special characters to make the PIN harder to guess. As for passkeys, users can now add more than one passkey to their account, which WhatsApps says will be useful if a person uses both iOS and Android. Passkeys, which WhatsApp launched support for in 2024, are far stronger than passwords and allow users to log in to their accounts using Face ID or their fingerprint. Passkeys remove the need to rely on username and password combinations, which are ordinarily susceptible to phishing attacks. Passkey logins make it harder for bad actors to remotely access your accounts, as an attacker would need physical access to a person's device that stores the user's part of the passkey. (ANI)
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