Meta brings lockdown-style security feature to WhatsApp against sophisticated cyber attacks; here's how it works

The new 'Strict Account Settings' is a new lockdown-style feature that promises to thwart Pegasus spyware-like attacks on WhatsApp users.

With more than three billion active users, WhatsApp is the world's most popular messenger application. However, it also attracts a cyber criminals to prey on naive smartphones.

Lately, there has been a surge in online fraud, such as digital arrests and even sophisticated targeted cyber attacks on high-profile people, such as journalists, human rights activists, politicians, and celebrity actors globally, including in India.

To curb such cyber threats, WhatsApp regularly introduces features such as auto call drop when the caller is not in the contact list, passkey security for end-to-end encryption of cloud backups, and more.

Now, Meta has introduced 'Strict Account Settings', a new lockdown-style feature that promises to thwart highly complex Pegasus-like spyware attacks on WhatsApp users.

Once enabled in the account settings, WhatsApp will lock to the most restrictive settings. It will limit how WhatsApp works in some ways, like blocking attachments and media from people not in contacts.

Strict account settings feature.

Here's how to enable Strict Account Settings on WhatsApp:

You can enable Strict Account Settings by going to Settings > Privacy > Advanced.

This feature is being rolled out as ian n-app update in phases. So, it will take some time to reach all regions.

In a related development, WhatsApp is planning to bring AI-powered Imagine capabilities into status updates. With this, users will be able to edit the images using Meta AI and instantly share as status updates, without leaving the WhatsApp Messenger app.

The new feature is still under testing. Interested users can try it by enrolling in the WhatsApp Beta programme.

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