The social media messaging platform WhatsApp keeps bringing new features with its updates that enhance the overall experience of the users on the platform. Now, WhatsApp has introduced a new feature that will improve the security on WhatsApp Web. The new feature is called Code Verify which will act as an additional layer of security. Code Verify essentially is a browser extension that verifies the authenticity of the WhatsApp Web code being served to the browser. The code helps to check whether the users’ WhatsApp code has been tampered with or altered. It makes sure that you get the same WhatsApp Web experience as everyone else.
The Need for Code Verify Feature
The Code Verify feature has been created by WhatsApp in partnership with Cloudfare which is a web infrastructure and security company. WhatsApp via a blog has shared that Code Verify is capable of independent, third-party, transparent verification of the code that is being served to the WhatsApp Web users. WhatsApp in its blog stated that WhatsApp has protected the personal messages users send on WhatsApp Web with end-to-end encryption as they transit from sender to recipient. And therefore, it is necessary to make users feel confident while sending messages on WhatsApp Web as well. The blog further informed that, unlike a downloadable mobile app, a web app is usually served directly to users, without a third party reviewing and auditing the code. Therefore, factors like a browser extension, which do not exist in mobile platforms weaken the security of a web browser. The blog further read that since the mobile app space was built after the web was created, the security guarantees offered on mobile can be stronger, particularly given that third-party app stores review and approve each app and software update. Hence, Code Verify has been launched to change the existing situation as it will bring more security on the WhatsApp Web. For those wondering about Code Verify, it’s a web extension that works with all browsers including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Firefox. Once added to the browser, it verifies the code that the browser gets from WhatsApp Web. The extension automatically gets pinned to the FireFox and Edge browser, however, it needs to be manually pinned on Google Chrome.
