At some point, while using social media, you would have noticed one or two messages from people you know asking you for a ridiculous amount of money from you only to later receive a call, general announcement or broadcast that their accounts have been hacked for fraudulent purposes. This is more common on the Facebook platform than other social media channels. With other channels, hackers take over people’s account and send spam messages to groups and other contacts.
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As humans, we change and with each added desire, more problems are created that needs to be solved. Technology is one of such tools that can be used to solve problems for humans. Facebook Inc. (owner of WhatsApp) being a forward-thinking company developed the two-step verification feature as an optional feature that adds more security to your account. This means that although this feature is not compulsory, it protects your account which includes your contacts and groups from being hacked by hackers who use your line
How to Protect Yourself with the Two-Step Verification
With the two-step verification enabled, any attempt to verify your phone number on WhatsApp by any hacker, family, friend or even yourself must be accompanied by the six-digit PIN that you created using this feature. To help you remember this six-digit pin, WhatsApp will occasionally ask for you to input the pin before you can access your chats.
To enable two-step verification, follow the steps listed below:
- Open the WhatsApp app on your phone
- At the top right-hand corner, click on the icon with the three dots
- Next, go to settings and then Account
- Click on the Two-step verification and enable by selecting the option.
After enabling this feature, you can also optionally enter your email address. This ensures you are notified when your account is about to be compromised (or not safe) and is the only way you can disable the two-step verification in case you ever forget your six-digit PIN, and also to help safeguard your account. Since emails are not verified to ensure it is accurate, therefore, it is strongly advised that you should only enter in a functional and accurate email address that you can use as your backup when you forget your PIN.
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Things to Note
- If you receive an email to disable two-step verification but didn’t request this, don’t click on the link. Someone could be attempting to verify your phone number on WhatsApp.
- Also, once the two-step verification is enabled, your number will not be permitted to reverify on WhatsApp within 7 days of not using WhatsApp without your PIN. So, if you forget your own PIN, but didn’t provide an email to disable two-step verification, even you will not be permitted to reverify it.
- The implication of this is that, after the 7 days, your number will be permitted to re-verify on WhatsApp without your PIN, but all pending messages will be deleted.
- If your number is reverified on WhatsApp after 30 days of last using WhatsApp, and without your PIN, your account will be deleted and a new one will be created upon successfully reverifying.
If you have any questions or need help getting this done, drop a comment on this post and I will be sure to reply you.
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