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Don’t get hacked; protect your WhatsApp account

08 October 2020 Photo Istock

Whatsapp security — It is important to be safe when using WhatsApp. Do not leave your phone unattended when you are not close by.

There are 2 billion WhatsApp users in the world, and 1,6 billion WhatsApp users access their accounts on a daily basis.

However, it is important to also be safe when using this popular communication tool.

According to Cobus van Jaarsveld, Assistant Director: Threat Detection, Investigations and Liaison in Protection Services, it does happen that people’s WhatsApp accounts get hacked; this is a serious violation of privacy.

“It means a third party now has unlimited access to your personal chats, information, media – and in some instances, they can also masquerade as you by deleting your chats, replying to your chats, and committing crimes. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of how harmful it can be to get hacked,” says Van Jaarsveld.

He adds: “Hackers can access your WhatsApp data by various means, e.g. via WhatsApp web or registering your number on another device.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) provided the following tips to prevent one’s WhatsApp from getting hacked:

• Log out from all computers that you see in the list under WhatsApp Web. This will stop hackers from further reading your chats. However, this should be done every time you use WhatsApp web.
• Do not leave your phone unattended when you are out.
• Lock all your apps to prevent unknown people from accessing your apps.
• Do not connect your phone to unknown Wi-Fi connections, as hackers can also use the unique MAC address to access all your WhatsApp chats.
• In case your WhatsApp has already been hacked, deactivate your account by emailing support@whatsapp.com. Your account will be automatically deleted if not accessed for 30 days.
• Enable two-step verification under your WhatsApp account settings. This will add an extra layer of security to the app.
• Lock WhatsApp. It is imperative to have the AppLocker that will help you lock your WhatsApp. While WhatsApp does not offer this application per se, you can download it and the app will facilitate the use of your WhatsApp with a password or PIN. This will help to prevent anyone who has access to your phone from accessing your WhatsApp account, since they will require a password to open it.

News Archive

Students win national Sanlam competition

2009-11-16

With the big cheque are, from the left: Mr Robert Goff from Sanlam, Jané du Plessis, fourth-year Physiotherapy student; Zenobia Louw, third-year Psychology student; Marissa van Eeden, fourth-year Physiotherapy student; Madelein Markram, M student: Architecture; Conrad Stoffberg, Hons. student: Architecture; Johan Human, fourth-year Physiotherapy student; and Mr Frank Louw from Sanlam.
Photo: Supplied

A team of students from the University of the Free State (UFS) recently walked away with the laurels when they won R100 000 in the national Creativity for Progress competition of Sanlam. In the competition students had to make plans to lure graduates and trained people who left the rural areas due to the economic situation back to those areas. Students first battled it out at department and faculty level before they faced other universities at national level. The UFS team came from three departments and designed a plan whereby the desolated railway stations in the rural areas could be converted into business centres that would breathe new life into those areas.

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