How to be Secure by Updating WhatsApp Privacy Settings

WhatsApp is being widely used as a vital source of communication with each other. There were more than 1.5 billion monthly active users in 2017 who communicate using WhatsApp.

Amidst the recent 2020 crisis of novel pandemic at the very beginning of 2020, WhatsApp usage has boosted to a hundred percent as people are confined in their homes and they have to use messenger apps (usually WhatsApp) for communication. 

WhatsApp is constantly claiming the safety of the users' privacy during their communication as it uses the end-to-end encryption method for the privacy of its users.

 In the "end-to-end encryption method," data is encrypted before transferring to the other user and ultimately decrypted after the delivery of the message by the built-in decryptor of the messenger app.

Although, it is somewhat secure to communicate through WhatsApp, however, still there are vulnerabilities to your privacy that are worth noticing to update your privacy settings.

The vulnerability of data in the device

It is true that in WhatsApp, your data is protected with end-to-end encryption but your device might still be vulnerable before encryption and after decryption of the data.

 If you are somehow tricked into installing spyware on your mobile, your data can be easily mined and sent to the external server.

Usually, spyware applications can hide their icons from the display menu, it might be difficult for you to trace them and get rid of them.

So, you must be very careful while installing any software or application on your mobile. You should never use the application and software from unknown resources.

Is Your Data Encrypted in Backup

WhatsApp says that after the delivery of a message, it is removed to alleviate the burden from the server but these files can remain in mobile storage.

Many times, we delete these files from WhatsApp and Gallery but if the auto-backup function is turned on, our files can still be accessed by data miners from backups as files in backups storage are not encrypted from end to end.

So, if you want to make your privacy secure, you can turn off the auto backup function.

But, this is a useful feature, therefore, you should rather care about the security of your cloud drive storage.

You should encrypt your WhatsApp data to hide it from the gallery by changing privacy settings.

Using WhatsApp Web

WhatsApp web is also another feature of WhatsApp in which you can use WhatsApp on the desktop by scanning the QR code from the WhatsApp mobile app.

Many People don't care about their WhatsApp active sessions on the desktop which can be misused.

Therefore, you should use WhatsApp web on a secure browser and make sure that you turn off all the web sessions when you are no more using WhatsApp Web.

Don't Be Careless about Delete for all Function

People usually send messages carelessly thanking to delete for all functions. Yes, deleting all functions works within one hour after sending a message.

 But no guarantee can be rendered that deleted messages can't be accessed by anyone because there are several other third-party applications available that can trace a text snippet from the notification of the received message.

However, it is not possible to recover photos, videos, or other files from notifications.

Also, a person seeing your message can take a screenshot of your message and you can no more deny such messages.

Keeping in view the safety of your privacy, you must make sure that you don't send or share any kind of content on WhatsApp which might be regretful for you.

Beware of Scams

Nowadays scams are rampant. You should be careful about scams not only on WhatsApp but on all other messaging and emailing platforms. Don't trust a random group on WhatsApp.

Scammers are manipulating WhatsApp as a tool to reach out to different people. You can be in different offers e.g. lottery and mega prizes etc. Later on, they might loot you by asking you to pay some amount as a service fee to confirm your prizes.

Every year thousands of people fall into these kinds of scams and lose their money. So you should always be careful of such kinds of scams not only on WhatsApp but on other platforms such as Telegram, Email, etc.

WhatsApp cannot be HACKED?

Although WhatsApp has a strong security system to make your privacy safe, it can not be claimed that the WhatsApp application can't be hacked.

Many times WhatsApp data has been stolen by the cybercriminal agencies such as Spyware attacks by NSO Groups.

So, you should never be careless about your privacy as it is never a pleasant experience when your private data is stolen or exposed.

Instead of this, you should follow the protective measures to ensure your privacy such as updating your operating systems and installing strong anti-virus software, changing your privacy settings, etc.