Exchanging contact information is how group chats launch and new acquaintances bloom into friends. But until recently, the only way you could do that on Meta’s WhatsApp was by also sharing your phone number –– and that can be one of the most revealing parts about your identity to casually share with a stranger.
“Your phone number is likely going to be attached to all kinds of other accounts, and so if somebody manages to hijack your phone number, then they could also likely recover other accounts,” said Martin Shelton, deputy director of digital security at Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Kevin Tackett, CEO of Secure Ideas, a consulting company dedicated to security testing and training, said people can also use a phone number to search people’s information on data broker sites. It’s also how scammers target victims. “I could just get your phone number and then text you or call you and pretend to be your bank,” Tackett said as an example.
That’s why WhatsApp’s new username feature is an important step forward for users’ privacy and security on the app. WhatsApp recently announced it is “gradually” rolling out a new privacy feature, so people have the option to reserve a username to message people on the app instead of a phone number.
