WhatsApp introduces new security measures: multiple passkeys, stronger passwords and more information on calls from unsaved numbers.
WhatsApp strengthens account protection with a series of updates designed to make unauthorized access more difficult, reduce the risk of scams and give users more tools to control who tries to contact them. The changes mainly concern passkeys, two-step verification and calls from unknown numbers, three areas that have become increasingly central with the increase in phishing attempts, account theft and social engineering.
The most significant data concerns the passkeywhich according to WhatsApp have already been used for over a billion people. This system allows you to access the app again through your fingerprint, facial recognition or device unlock code, avoiding having to use traditional codes or PINs.
The news is that it will now be possible to associate more than one passkey to the same accounta function designed especially for those who use WhatsApp on devices with different operating systems, for example an Android smartphone and an iOS device.
To configure them just go to Settings, Account, Passkey.
Two-step verification becomes more robust
One of the app’s most important security tools also changes: the two-step verification.
Until now, WhatsApp allowed you to protect it through a six-digit numeric PIN. With the new update it will be possible to set a full passwordlonger and more complex, made up of letters, numbers and special characters.
The objective is to make account takeover more difficult, i.e. the theft of the profile by a person who has also managed to obtain the single-use access code sent to the user.
It is not a secondary step, because temporary codes are often at the center of WhatsApp scams. The mechanism is almost always the same: the attacker convinces the victim, through a message or a phone call, to communicate the code received via SMS or directly in the app. A second, more complex barrier can reduce the risk that that code will be enough to take over your account.
Learn more before replying to a stranger
Another update concerns the calls coming from numbers that are not saved in the phonebook.
On Android, WhatsApp will show more information about the number before the user decides whether to answer, indicating for example if the call comes from another country and if there are groups in common with that contact.
The idea is to offer some more elements to quickly assess the reliability of the call, especially in those cases where scammers try to exploit urgency, surprise or fear to induce the person to answer without thinking.
In fact, telephone and digital fraud increasingly leverages the time factor. An apparently urgent call, a fake family member in difficulty, a request for immediate payment or an alleged problem with one’s account can push the user to react before checking who is really on the other end.
Providing more context therefore means trying to break that mechanism.
Account security becomes the new battleground
The new features are added to the end-to-end encryptionwhich WhatsApp uses by default for messages and calls and which prevents anyone external to the conversation from reading the content.
But encryption alone doesn’t solve all problems.
In fact, most modern scams do not attempt to technically “break” the encryption of messages. Much more often it tries to bypass the user directly, convincing him to provide codes, passwords, personal data or authorizations.
For this reason, the attention of platforms is increasingly shifting from just protecting conversations to protecting the digital identity of those who use them.
Multiple passkeys, more complex passwords and more information on unknown numbers go exactly in this direction: making it more difficult to break into an account and, at the same time, helping the user to recognize a potentially suspicious situation before it’s too late.
For WhatsApp it is also a way to strengthen trust in a platform that is no longer used only to talk to friends and family, but also to work, communicate with companies, receive information from institutions and, increasingly often, manage services and payments.
The point, therefore, is not just to add new functions. It’s about transforming security from a technical option to an integral part of everyday experience, at a time when protecting your account is becoming almost as important as protecting the content of your conversations.
