WHATSAPP will soon warn you if you just received a suspicious link! Determined to protect its users from hackers and fake news, the instant Messaging application is currently testing a "suspicious link detection" option, which will be integrated directly into the chat.
This new feature has just appeared in the 2.18.204 beta version of WHATSAPP, reports the site WABetaInfo, which relays all the new features of the mail application. Now, WHATSAPP will notify you if the link you just received is fraudulent or if it attempts to redirect you to a dummy site.
"This link contains unusual characters, it might try to pass itself off as a different site," will notify the mail application directly into the chat. "When WHATSAPP detects a suspicious link, the message is marked with a red label," explains WABetaInfo. Nevertheless, the application will not prevent you from clicking on the site in question if you wish. Before you open the link, WhatsApp will nonetheless warn you of the risks you are taking.
According to WABetaInfo, the link detection takes place locally directly on your smartphone rather than on the company's servers. No particulars are sent to WhatsApp. WABetainfo does not specify which links will be considered by WHATSAPP as fraudulent. This new option should help protect users from the application of phishing attempts, hacking and preventing them from fake news.
"It is impossible to control all the contents" the company defended, adding that the problem calls for "collaboration between high tech firms, civil society and the Indian government". The "Suspicious link detection" feature may well be WHATSAPP's first concrete response to this phenomenon. For the time being, it is not known when the messaging application will offer this new option to all its users.