Instant messaging service WhatsApp on Tuesday announced end to end encryption across all platforms, increasing the safety of users.
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This means that government spies – and indeed anyone else – will find it very, very hard to read your messages, unless they have full access to your phone (ie they have your phone and your password). As a finishing touch, the messages are even deleted from the servers after they have been sent out, the company claims.
The WhatsApp website explains that end-to-end encryption works by securing messages with a lock, which only the recipient and sender are able to unlock and read with a special key.
The announcement has revealed that “end-to-end encryption” has been implemented in WhatsApp, so as to ensure that messages can be decrypted only by authorized users. Now, messages sent over the company’s app will be encrypted from the point they’re sent until they’re received, meaning that even WhatsApp will get only a garbled mess if it tried to listen in on a conversation.
According to WhatsApp, the update will apply to every call made and every message sent – including photos, videos, files, and voice messages – through the service.
iMessage of Apple also uses end-to-end encryption.
It should be noted that the feature is enabled by default in WhatsApp, which means that if you and your friends are on the latest version of the app, all chats will be end-to-end encrypted.
The post by Koum, who grew up in Soviet-era USSR during the Communist rule, said the fact that people couldn’t speak freely was one of the reasons his family moved to the US.
The issue has between balancing privacy and national security concerns has always been discussed between Silicon Valley, politicians and law enforcement, but it was the Federal Bureau of Investigation vs. Apple case that dragged it into the spotlight.
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On Tuesday, WhatsApp announced a more secure way of communication through its end-to-end encryption technology provided on the platform. Acton and Koum said one of their primary principles of the company is to protect people’s private communication.
