In the last two years, Viber has blocked more than 160,000 accounts belonging to phone scammers and spammers. Their numbers are decreasing thanks to the constant improvement of Messenger’s internal tools to protect against attackers. However, keeping users alert to incoming calls and messages remains a necessary skill for every network user. The company has put together its best cybersecurity tips into a handy brief for protecting against scammers.

How to be safe on the internet?

• Be wary of phone calls from unknown people. If possible, minimize conversations with callers you do not know. “Caller ID,” a new feature from Rakuten Viber, can help evaluate the likelihood of spam. This way, calls from unknown numbers will be marked as “potentially spam” or “unsafe”. Follow the link for more information on how to enable this, how to recognize spam and how to report fraud.
• Do not share personal information, especially with strangers. You should be critical of filling out all forms on the sites, do not share private data in group chats or on the phone, and should always read the “Contract on Processing of Personal Data”, if available, which generally applies to registration on various platforms. .
• Also worth it enable two-factor authentication for all accountswhere the following protection is available: email, accounts in social networks and applications, online banking (for example, Privat24).
• Don’t use the same password for all your accounts. Also, the password should be secure: You should not use date of birth along with name and similar variations. Create a password by combining different characters: uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, underscores and even spaces.
• Pay attention to the WiFi network you use to access the network. Everyone at least once connected to public Wi-Fi without a password in transport, institutions and other public places. Free access is always perceived as an advantage, but it is also worth remembering the risks: interception of personal data through an unsecured network, redirects to phishing sites, malware and viruses on public WiFi. To keep yourself as safe as possible, use a VPN and try not to use public Wi-Fi to transmit sensitive information.
• Download programs only from official sites and marketplaces. Attractive advertisements such as “best free document scanner” may disguise a virus program. Safe sources are official app stores (Play Market or AppStore) and developer sites (e.g. Microsoft Store). Also pay attention to what data access is requested when signing up for any app.
• Also, only download files from verified buyers or secure sites.

Viber features that will further secure your correspondence

First of all, all private chats and calls on Viber are protected by end-to-end encryption by default. This means that no third party, including the messaging team, will have access to the information you share with the interlocutor. To provide additional protection, especially in cases where the smartphone is physically in the hands of an attacker, you can use the following functions:

• Use secret chats. Secret chats are not displayed in the public list and can only be accessed with a PIN code. This will prevent criminals from accessing correspondence in the event of smartphone theft, for example. To hide a chat: Tap Chats – tap and hold (on Android) or swipe left (on iOS) on the chat you want to hide (note that community chats cannot be hidden) – Tap Hide chat – enter your PIN (also on iOS Enable Face ID/Touch ID in ).
• Send missing messages. Auto-disappearing messages will be deleted at a predetermined time. To enable disappearing messages by default in a private chat: Click More – Settings – Privacy – Default disappearing messages – Choose how long messages remain visible – Enter a message and send it.

• Enable two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication is also available on Viber messenger, which helps further protect your account. To do this, a PIN code is set, which will be requested when activating the account from a new device or making any changes to the account. To set up two-step verification with PIN: Go to Privacy – click Two-step verification – enter and confirm a 6-digit PIN – confirm, change or link an email address.