Recently, more and more WhatsApp users have been falling victim to cybercriminal attacks . In these cases, scammers use accounts that have already been compromised and pose as friends of the users in order to trick them and extract information .
The most common tactic is to ask or trick their victims into giving them their codes , which must be entered when registering a new mobile phone number or other device.
They then use the passwords to gain full access to their victims' accounts, which will allow them to exploit the victim's personal information and request money from their friends or relatives.
There have also been incidents where they target their work or sell their personal data to illegal sites on the Dark Web.
In particular, the Singapore police force has issued numerous warnings about such “phishing” attacks over the past two years.
Its latest announcement, in February, noted that there had been at least 18 known reports involving a victim's WhatsApp account being compromised since December of last year.
This is, of course, a number that is actually much higher if one takes into account the incidents that were not reported, while it is a situation that concerns many other countries.
National University of Singapore Associate Professor Chang Ee-Chien, whose research interests include data privacy, said the impersonation tactics used by hackers are “very low-tech, but very effective, as people tend to trust their friends or family.”
But how will you protect your WhatsApp account?
- First, enable two-factor verification, which requires you to enter a unique PIN to access your account. Never reveal your PIN or verification codes to anyone, and don't click on unknown links or attachments.
- Make sure you are properly logged out of WhatsApp Web, especially if your computers are not secured with passwords or biometric data.
- Check your app settings to limit the amount of information that attackers can get from your WhatsApp account if it's been compromised. For example, don't allow WhatsApp to share location information and don't allow unknown people to add you to group chats.
- Turn off the autofill option on your phone. While it is a time-saving feature, it also means that your personal information is stored on your phone and any hacker who has access to your phone will be able to see such information.
- When you're conducting a particularly sensitive transaction, use a virtual private network (VPN) to protect yourself. A VPN will mask your Internet Protocol address, making it impossible to track. It also provides an extra layer of encryption.
