WhatsApp to roll out enhanced protection features for high-risk accounts

Users under a higher risk of being targeted by hacking attempts will soon have the option to enable an extra set of security features on WhatsApp. Here are the details.

As spotted by WABetaInfo, the latest WhatsApp release on TestFlight features a new “Strict account settings” setting under Privacy > Advanced, which lets users enable a “set of extreme protections (…) if you believe you are at risk of a cyber attack.”

To help protect your account if you are at high-risk of targeted cyber attacks, certain settings will be locked. Most people do not need this level of protection. This will reduce the quality of your messaging experience
and calls.

The splash screen that introduces the feature lists the following measures that will automatically be applied once the mode is enabled:

• Media and attachments will be blocked from unknown senders.
• Privacy settings will be updated to limit who can call or message you.
• When turned on, certain settings will be locked. You can turn off strike account settings at any time.

The message also notes that call quality will be reduced once the feature is activated

In addition to the measures listed above, WABetaInfo offers more details about other options that will be automatically adjusted when the strict account settings feature is enabled.

This includes silencing unknown callers, restricting automatic group invites to known contacts, disabling link previews, notifying users about encryption code changes, activating two-step verification, limiting the visibility of personal information for unknown contacts, and more.

It is worth noting that most, if not all, of these settings are currently available on WhatsApp. The difference is that when the user activates the strict account settings option, all of these features will be adjusted automatically, making it easier for high-risk accounts to quickly adopt extra security measures without having to go through them one by one.

As with other beta features that make their way to WhatsApp beta builds, there isn’t a clear timeline regarding when the strict account mode will be officially released.

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