WhatsApp’s New Security Update Will Add More Protection Against Malicious Links
Wire desk byline Sourced from Xinhua, Dawn, Arab News, Anadolu and Minute Mirror. Translated and abridged by the GSRRA Desk.
Real-time communication has made spam messages far more common these days. Compounding the issue, malicious individuals now have a wider range of tools compared to the early 90s, where just clicking a single link could lead to your phone being taken over with harmful software.
WhatsApp already offers some tools to mitigate this, but a new feature is on the way, designed to make it easier to verify the origin of links (even if disguised) before users click on them.
In the 2.23.16.6 update for Android, WhatsApp introduced safety tools to help users manage messages from unknown contacts. When you receive a message from someone you don’t know for the first time, a safety screen will appear, allowing you to block or report the sender.
It also provides information about the sender’s profile, country code, and other details. While these updates are designed to enhance user safety, WhatsApp has previously faced criticism over privacy and data collection practices. As reported by WABetaInfo, the upcoming WhatsApp beta for Android 2.24.20.28 is expected to roll out this new safety feature.
While users already can search for links in WhatsApp, it is improving it further by familiarizing us with a more user-friendly feature called “Safety Screen ” that will guide users on how to search links. The new interface will authorize users to find more details on the received link or even let you search for just a text message by itself.
By refining this feature WhatsApp aims to help out its users identify potentially harmful links more easily. This improvement is coming in response to security incidents, like the 2019 vulnerability where spyware could be installed on WhatsApp simply by calling a number — and the person didn’t even need to answer the call.
The release date is not provided yet, but WhatsApp has implied that the feature is still under development and will be released at a later time. If you’re eager to test it early, the latest WhatsApp beta is available on the Google Play Store. Keep in mind, though, that as it’s a beta version, certain features may differ from what will appear in the final release.
Reference Link:- https://propakistani.pk/2024/09/28/whatsapps-new-security-update-will-add-more-protection-against-malicious-links/
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
