#CyberMonday: How you can secure your WhatsApp account and also recover your WhatsApp Account if it is already hacked

Posted by E.L.E.X on April 11 2021 under Tech/Cybersecurity

With billions of users of WhatsApp around the Globe, WhatsApp has become a primary target for hackers since many people are not implementing complete WhatsApp Security. People often realize the importance of WhatsApp Security after getting hacked, so their efforts to Recover their WhatsApp Account or Secure their WhatsApp Account from hackers are mostly in vain. There are plenty of methods that can be opted for WhatsApp Hack that we might not even be aware of.

So today, I will guide you on how you can secure your WhatsApp account and also recover your WhatsApp Account if it is already hacked.

Note: If you are being blackmailed or harassed by a hacker, then you need to contact the nearest cybersecurity police station as well as the WhatsApp support center. They can help you find out how the WhatsApp account was hacked and who was the hacker and help you take legal action against that criminal hacker.

If your WhatsApp account was hacked then, first of all, do this to recover WhatsApp,

Check if any unknown device is shown from the WhatsApp web account. Take a screenshot of its IP address and all the information you can find about it and then remove the unknown device.

Logout Option

Now you need to remove any spyware or keylogger which has been installed on your device. The most common Spywares are apps made by companies such as spyzie.
Hopefully, you will find the unknown app, then uninstall it and your device should be safe now.

List of Spywares

Install a good antivirus like Norton and McAfee on your mobile device. Now give all the necessary permissions to the antivirus and scan your entire device. Remove all the viruses and malware as well as any suspicious apps found by the antivirus.

Norton Antivrus to recover WhatsApp

Contact the WhatsApp support center and ask for more information and guidance regarding the hack. If your device has a custom ROM then the WhatsApp service will not be helpful to you.

If none of the above methods work for you then take a backup of your data on your PC. After doing this reset your device from the settings option.

So these are some of the ways which worked for me to recover WhatsApp and there are high chances that they will work for you too. So try them out and let me know. If any method doesn’t work, please let me know in the comment section below and I’ll be more than happy to help you out.

How to increase the security of your WhatsApp account

So you must be wondering how you can increase your WhatsApp security.

For this, you need to understand how WhatsApp gets hacked.

I have already written an in-depth article on how hackers hack WhatsApp accounts.

Kindly read it below:

#CyberMonday: 7 Methods Hackers Use to Hack WhatsApp Account

Now you need to secure those attack vectors and ensure that they cannot be exploited to hack your WhatsApp account.

1) Your phone to Recover WhatsApp-

Your phone needs to be at the highest level of security you can possibly maintain.
Keep a good pattern lock.
Keep a good antivirus installed like Norton and set it up properly.
Keep your apps up to date.
Keep your phone Operating System up to date.
Make sure your OTP and messages are safe and cannot be accessed by others.

2) WhatsApp application and your WhatsApp account

Keep two-step verification on. You can find this setting in WhatsApp settings>account >two-step verification.

Account Option- secure your whatsapp account Two-Step Verification- secure your whatsapp account

Also while setting a pin set a strong pin. No guessable pins allowed. Definitely pins like “777777” are unacceptable
Open and on the security settings option in WhatsApp settings for more detailed security info about people.

Set the privacy settings properly. Especially for the ladies. You can control a lot of settings, do take some time to set them properly.

Privacy Feature- secure your whatsapp account

Protect the WhatsApp app with an app lock security application. Always provide the extra layer of security.

5 Sure Ways to hack any WIFI Network using your Android phone

3) The apps and links you click on

Beware of forwarded spam messages on WhatsApp. FAKE NEWS and FAKE LINKS are a major problem. These are used for social engineering and getting your username passwords. Offers from Flipkart and Amazon and other such websites are fake if they are sent to you on WhatsApp.

Always use antivirus and never click and download anything from unknown links. Especially applications. Make sure all the sites you visit have https.
Do not install apps from outside play store. Especially from random sites that tell you to download and install a particular app in order to access something. These are viruses and malware so beware.

4) Activate the new security feature on WhatsApp - Fingerprint Lock

WhatsApp recently added a new option for fingerprint unlock. This option can help secure your WhatsApp account since it’s very difficult to break fingerprint locks.

To set this option go to privacy and check the last option

Select the option so that you can set it up:

Here you can set the time at which fingerprint lock auto-locks. I suggest using one minute since its the most secure. You can also set it to 30 minutes if needed. After you have locked WhatsApp with the fingerprint, you will see something like this when next you try to open WhatsApp after 1 minute.

Why should you secure your Account?

Your WhatsApp account contains valuable data starting from your images to all your contact details as well as some security details you share with friends and family members.

You sometimes even send documents and important photos to your friends and family. It may be your credit card number. This data in the hands of hackers can lead to a huge disaster.

All that data is saved on your WhatsApp account. And when your account is comprised all the data is now in the hands of the hacker. Your financial security, as well as privacy, no longer exists once your account is hacked.

Do you really want to share it with everyone? Do you really want all your secrets to be known by everyone?

What data can hackers get from your Account?

All the sensitive information that are stored on your WhatsApp account including all your chats, images, documents, files, videos, etc. can all be used by hackers for social engineering as well as gaining key information about your personal and financial bank account.

This is also part of the social engineering which hackers use for hacking into your financial accounts and gain access to all your financial resources or just implement the WhatsApp hack.

This information is also used for blackmail and other purposes.

If the above methods don’t work to recover WhatsApp then head straight to WhatsApp Support Center.

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