WhatsApp is one of the most popular chat apps owns more than 2 billion users. It allows you to chat with your contacts through pictures, messages, audio, and videos. WhatsApp contains much of your sensitive information. WhatsApp hacked is a terrible thing, this post teaches you how to recover and protect your WhatsApp app if it’s hacked.
How Do You Recover Your Account If WhatsApp Is Hacked?
When your WhatsApp has been hacked, it’s vital to take steps to recover your account to protect your sensitive information. Here are some ways you can learn:
Online Account Is Hacked
The first situation is your account is hacked but you don’t know. Your contacts usually receive some weird information such as borrowing money or asking for help. But these messages are not sent by you.
The account states you can notice on your device, that this is caused by hackers utilizing a decision on your previously connected desktop or WhatsApp Web. You can delete messages and log into all devices you have signed into.
Open your WhatsApp, navigate to three vertical points at the right top side near the search bar, click “WhatsApp web”, and select “Log out of all devices”.
However, if you haven’t logged into any devices face the situation too. You need to do these steps:
Step 1: Log out of your account on your devices, and sign in with your phone number, or choose “Forget passwords” to reset passwords.
Step 2: The official will send a code to you and type it to sign in. In this way, the hacker’s device will log out automatically.
Step 3: In this step, if you haven’t set a two-factor authentication, set one and wait for a two-step code. You can sign in to your account again after 7 days. During the 7 days, the hackers cannot sign in to your account.
If You Have Lost Your Devices
If you lost your device when your WhatsApp was hacked, it’s unlucky. But don’t be worried, we also provide you with some tips to fix it.
Firstly, please use your phone number or other social media account to inform your contacts possibly. Give them time to prepare and protect their online information.
Then you need to ask for official help, send an email or request to WhatsApp, and illustrate the detailed message. You need to provide your number to them, let them sign into your account, and deactivate your account.
Please use the email address you registered with during the dual identity verification process to send this email. You can use any email address if you didn’t do dual identity verification before your phone was stolen or misplaced.
When you finish doing this, the official will give you a reply email. Your account cannot be used by the hackers and you have almost 30 days to resume your account. During the 30 days, you can access your cloud backup data.
How to Protect Your WhatsApp from Hacked?
Even though recovering your WhatsApp account is an easy task, it’s best that you take care of securing your account in your daily life to prevent hacking. Next are some precautions you can take. By implementing these security measures, you can significantly increase the protection of your WhatsApp Messenger account.
Take on Two-factor Authentication: The two-factor authentication gives our account another level of protection. You need to type a PIN code when you want to sign in to your account on a new device.
Update WhatsApp Regularly: The latest version of the app will fix some bugs and errors to reduce the risk of being hacked. The latest app can fix any security vulnerabilities to reduce the chances of a successful attack.
Don’t Connect to the Public Network If Possible: The public network’s security level is not as strong as the private network. Hackers can easily access your account on the public Internet. Or you can connect to a VPN tool when using a public network.
LightningX VPN uses strong encryption technology and a strict no-log policy to protect online security and privacy. It provides a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, you can try it and then decide whether to subscribe to plans.
Don’t Click Unknown Links: Sometimes, you may receive some unknown links especially if the links or files come from unknown sources or look suspicious. Malicious links and downloads may compromise the security of your account or infect your device with malware. Avoid clicking on suspicious links and download files only from trusted sources.
Use a Biometric Lock: Many mobile devices offer biometric authentication options, such as fingerprint or facial recognition. Enabling these features to sign in to WhatsApp adds extra security to your WhatsApp account. This ensures that only you can access your WhatsApp Messenger app.
What Will Threaten Your WhatsApp Security?
Hackers come up with a lot of tricks to get your personal information. Here are some very common ones you can take care to prevent.
Malware
Malware is a smaller threat to mobile devices, but one that should not be ignored. Malware can monitor what you do on your mobile device and record your screen, putting your WhatsApp account at risk. And thanks to WhatsApp Web, any device you’ve logged into WhatsApp can be hacked.
Phishing
One method of deception and cybercrime used by hackers is SMS phishing. This is a phishing technique that uses text messages and instant messaging applications to trick victims.
What makes SMS phishing attacks even more frightening is that hackers can inject messages into existing conversations, making it more difficult to spot when you’re being scammed. These SMS phishing messages usually urge you to take immediate action or contain links to fraudulent websites.
Conclusion
This post shows you how to determine if your WhatsApp has been hacked, how to recover it, and prevent the hack. We hope this has been helpful to you. After reading this article, you can also alert your contacts about these situations.
