{"id":436939,"date":"2026-01-27T18:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/436939\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:13:12","slug":"whatsapps-new-lockdown-settings-add-another-layer-of-protection-against-cyberattacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/436939\/","title":{"rendered":"WhatsApp\u2019s new \u2018lockdown\u2019 settings add another layer of protection against cyberattacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">WhatsApp is launching new \u201cStrict Account Settings\u201d that add even more protections against cyberattacks. The <a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2026\/01\/whatsapp-strict-account-settings-safeguarding-against-cyber-attacks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">feature is built for people<\/a> at a high-risk of attacks \u2014 such as journalists or public figures \u2014 and automatically blocks attachments and media from senders you don\u2019t know, while silencing calls from unknown contacts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/faq.whatsapp.com\/846698564598022\/?cms_platform=web\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">new setting<\/a> limits other functionality inside WhatsApp, including turning off link previews, limiting who can add you to a group, and blocking non-contacts from seeing your profile photo, \u201cabout\u201d details, and online status. \u201cYou should only turn this on if you think you may be a target of a sophisticated cyber campaign,\u201d WhatsApp says. \u201cMost people are not targeted by such attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">WhatsApp has long offered end-to-end encryption, and bolstered its security even more after users were targeted with the NSO Group\u2019s Pegasus spyware, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2019\/5\/14\/18622744\/whatsapp-spyware-nso-pegasus-vulnerability\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">allowed bad actors to gain access<\/a> to someone\u2019s device through a phone call. Meta, WhatsApp\u2019s parent company, later sued the NSO Group and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/news\/662242\/meta-nso-group-pegasus-whatsapp-hack-damages\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">received $167.25 million in damages<\/a>. WhatsApp <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/news\/604100\/whatsapp-meta-spyware-paragon-solutions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">also shut down<\/a> a spyware campaign targeting journalists and civil society members last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">Meta is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-01-25\/lawsuit-claims-meta-can-see-whatsapp-chats-in-breach-of-privacy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">currently facing a lawsuit<\/a> that claims the company and WhatsApp can access private WhatsApp chats. Andy Stone, Meta\u2019s head of communications, has pushed back on these claims, telling Bloomberg that the lawsuit is \u201ca frivolous work of fiction,\u201d as WhatsApp <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/23409716\/signal-encryption-messaging-sms-meredith-whittaker-imessage-whatsapp-china\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">uses the Signal protocol<\/a> for encryption.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">Strict Account Settings will roll out in the coming weeks, and you can turn it on by opening WhatsApp settings, selecting \u201cPrivacy,\u201d tapping \u201cAdvanced,\u201d and then selecting the option. WhatsApp notes that you can only turn on this feature from your primary device \u2014 not on WhatsApp for the web.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WhatsApp is launching new \u201cStrict Account Settings\u201d that add even more protections against cyberattacks. The feature is built&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1638,49,48,281,44,2532,64,61],"class_list":["post-436939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-apps","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-meta","tag-news","tag-security","tag-tech","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}