The WhatsApp security issues have always been in the debate. WhatsApp is an instant messaging application that has more than 2 billion active users. This enormous amount of users makes it easy for cybercriminals to attack the software resulting in spam, security concerns, and malware threats. In the year 2021, WhatsApp was ranked 2 among the social media applications with the most phishing attacks (impersonation frauds) while earlier in the year 2019 hackers could hack someone’s WhatsApp just by WhatsApp calling feature.
These statistics show how WhatsApp security issues are increasing with the number of users of the application. The statistic shows that kids as app users are much higher. Kids at their gullible age are prone to share a lot of information which might worry the parents. A WhatsApp tracking app comes to the rescue for parents. It can be easily installed on the kid’s devices, and the information is conveniently accessible on the parent’s dashboard of the app. This would help parents to ensure the safety of their kids against the dangers of WhatsApp. Before getting into how parents can ensure their kids’ safety, it is necessary to look into the security threats of WhatsApp.
What Are Some WhatsApp Threats You Should Know To Protect Your Child?
Similar to the case in the year 2019, WhatsApp cannot be fully trusted with information the kids are sharing on it. WhatsApp has an encryption feature that means information shared between individuals can be decrypted by them. Despite the encryption, other personal information is also accessed by the app, keeping it at a risk.
The WhatsApp security issues that as a parent you should know are:
Malware Threats:
The larger number of application users makes it an easier target for hackers and cybercriminals. These cybercriminals mainly revolve around the WhatsApp website. WhatsApp has allowed downloading an app or using the website for desktops and laptops. While in the app store we know which the genuine app is while in the web system it is easy to impersonate and the information can be retrieved by the evil elements on the internet and are prone to misuse. This can also lead to inappropriate spamming.
Backup Messages Are Not Encrypted:
WhatsApp provides an encryption feature that ensures that the messages are encrypted and can only be decrypted by the sender and receivers, not someone else, not even the apps’ servers. While on the other hand, WhatsApp also provided a backing up feature for older messages. In the case of a backed-up message, it is saved on the app’s server and decrypted. These decrypted messages are now vulnerable to leaking and misuse. If you need to transfer WhatsApp from Android to iPhone, you can do it from here.
Spreading Of Fraud & Fake News:
Social media platforms provide an easy base for spreading fake news. In recent years there have been cases when social media has played a major role in spreading fake news. This fake news spreads with lightning speed and can result in larger harm. In the year, 2018, fake news resulted in the mob lynching of 5 Indian men who were perceived to be child kidnappers. WhatsApp is trying to take measures against the spread of fake news but the enormous user count makes it difficult.
Inappropriate Content:
WhatsApp is an unsupervised platform, the kind of content and information the kids are sharing amongst each other can be inappropriate for their age. This can result in harmful effects on kids’ minds. The content they are consuming is not monitored, and hence, the parental tracking app which has a WhatsApp chat tracking can help the parents to prevent their kids from consuming content that is harmful to them. The inappropriate sharing of information is accessible to cyber bullies and can be misused.
Control Of Online Predators:
The WhatsApp security issue has provided a convenient platform for online predators and cybercriminals to fulfil their evil intentions. Kids are more prone to fall prey to these kinds of online predators. The predators may misuse the information and can blackmail or bully kids which can affect their mental well-being and can have adverse effects on their overall development.
Engagement With Scammers:
Scammers take different ways to attack someone for their benefit. An instant free messaging application like WhatsApp is very much prone to phishing attacks and negative impersonations. Kids can be easily deceived by scammers to share personal information like bank account details. The information shared by your kid can be misused and can result in online fraud.
Risk Of Engaging In An Anonymous WhatsApp Group:
A large number of users of the application have increased the rate of WhatsApp security issues. While the messages are encrypted, other information like the phone’s contacts are also accessed by WhatsApp and can be misused. This often results in adding to anonymous groups. These groups might be serving malicious content to your kid and can affect their mind adversely. Kids can be added to this group anonymously and can be spammed with inappropriate information.
How WhatsApp Tracking Software Can Protect Your Child from Vulnerabilities?
In these times when social media and the internet have become a necessity more than just for entertainment, stopping kids from using WhatsApp is not possible. Then, how can parents protect their children from the vulnerabilities of WhatsApp? The Parental tracking software has a feature of WhatsApp chat tracking which allows parents to monitor their kids’ WhatsApp usage activity.
The WhatsApp tracking software has the following functions to help parents ensure their kids’ safety:
- Allows you to check the entire data
- Offers privacy & security
- Compatible with Android & iOS
- Offers security against viruses & threats
- Works quickly
Hence, with the above-mentioned points, you can monitor your kids‘ WhatsApp activity to ensure their safety and make sure that they are not facing any of its negative effects.
While choosing parental control software, the parents can make sure that the WhatsApp spy app brings the kids’ activity to the parent’s notice, alerts if there is sharing of sensitive information, and is easy to use. TiSPY is one of the best parental control software that provides all these features, along with tracking of other social media apps and location tracking.
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