In a bid to increase users’ awareness about online safety, a prominent advocate of online safety, Rotimi Onadipe, has told users of WhatsApp Messenger App to add more security features to their accounts in order to prevent their accounts from being compromised and used for criminal purposes.
Recall that February 6th, 2024 was Safer Internet Day 2024 and Onadipe and other advocates of online safety across the globe celebrated the day through different platforms and used the opportunity to increase global awareness about online safety.
Briefing journalists in Ibadan on Saturday during an online safety awareness program which was initiated by his organisation, Internet Safety Magazine (ISM), Onadipe said: “it is very unfortunate that many users of WhatsApp Messenger App are not yet informed about the importance of setting up Two-Step verification on their accounts.”
His words: “Last week Tuesday was Safer Internet Day 2024. It was a very interesting day for us at Internet Safety Magazine but I was very surprised when some users of WhatsApp Messenger App I interviewed on that day said they didn’t know about 2-Step verification.”
“This is one of the major reasons why thousands of accounts are being hacked while sensitive, personal information and hard-earned money of unsuspecting victims are also being stolen almost every day by cyber criminals that took advantage of vulnerable accounts.”
“My advice to WhatsApp users that have not set up 2-Step verification on their accounts is to do so immediately because failure to do so will give cyber criminals easy access to their accounts. Setting up 2-Step verification on WhatsApp is easy and it can be done in just few minutes.”
“Cybercrime prevention is our collective responsibility. If you or someone you know has not set it up, make sure it is done immediately because once an account without a 2-Step verification is hacked, the chance of getting it back is very slim. Moreover, the people on the victim’s contact list are also at risk of being defrauded.”
“Be informed that cyber criminals are desperately searching for vulnerable accounts and your password alone is not enough to protect your account from being compromised. You need to add more security features in order to reduce your vulnerability to cyber attacks.”
