Meta is rolling out “Strict Account Settings” on WhatsApp to provide lockdown-style protections for journalists, public figures, and other high-risk users against sophisticated threats like spyware and zero-click exploits. The opt-in feature applies extreme controls from a user’s primary device—enabling two-step verification, blocking unknown media and calls, disabling link previews, and locking profile and presence data—as WhatsApp also migrates parts of its codebase to Rust for added resilience. #WhatsApp #NSOGroup
Keypoints
- Strict Account Settings adds extreme privacy controls on top of end-to-end encryption.
- Users can enable the feature only from their primary device under Settings > Privacy > Advanced.
- The setting automatically enables two-step verification and blocks media, attachments, unknown calls, link previews, and profile/presence visibility.
- The feature targets users at risk of targeted zero-click spyware attacks linked to actors like NSO Group.
- WhatsApp will roll the feature out gradually and is migrating components to Rust to strengthen protection against spyware.