End-to-end data encryption on WhatsApp will no doubt endear the service to users who mind so much about their security and privacy, but not with governments that are struggling to battle the growing threat of terrorism. If one of them isn't, group chats will be unencrypted.
Let's explain this in WhatsApp's own words.
He added that the latest version of the app will encrypt every call, message, photo, video, file and voice message that is sent on the platform by default, including group chats.
WhatsApp's use of encryption has already caused friction in Brazil, where authorities recently arrested and then released a Facebook Inc. executive after the company said it was unable to unscramble a user's encrypted messages.
Now, WhatsApp has made a decision to take a major stand against both law enforcement, cybercriminals, and hackers.
'Do not take companies promises to keep your data safe seriously, even if Whatsapp means well, this article highlights details on WhatsApp end-to-end encryption that everyone else is afraid to tell you, ' he writes.
Jan Koum, WhatsApp's co-founder, who grew up in Soviet-era Ukraine, said: 'The desire to protect people's private communication is one of the core beliefs we have at WhatsApp and for me it's personal. However, WhatsApp claims the actual content of the messages is not held on the servers at all. WhatsApp started rolling out its end-to-end encryption feature.
The Criminal Procedure Code in Singapore requires technology companies to disclose information, or any codes they may have to unlock locked or encrypted information.
Yes, that's good news for those indulging in sending across images of their nether regions. But there's a downside to the encryption business too.
Der Spiegel notes that end-to-end encryption is only available if all the participants in a conversation are using the latest version of the software. Koum and Acton have touched upon this topic also. But it also underscores the way the growing availability of encryption to consumers is expanding the scope of the debate over how law enforcement should deal with data secured by the technology.
Is end-to-end encryption as foolproof as it’s cracked up to be?
It's a catch-22 situation.
The FBI and the Justice department didn't comment on this new action from the company, but it has been noted that WhatsApp's services were used to facilitate certain criminal acts, such as the Paris attacks previous year. That means even if someone cracks one key they will most probably get only a part of the conversation and cannot use that key to decrypt the rest of the messages in that conversation. Closing the system lets terrorists run amok.
