End-to-End Encryption Implemented on WhatsApp

WhatsApp now has advanced security, any communication done on the platform is completely secure.

Amid all the debates circling around privacy and data encryption that most of the technology companies have been caught up in, Facebook Inc. has rolled out advanced encryption for its mobile messaging app, WhatsApp. To ensure maximum security in its data encryption initiative, the social media network has taken almost one and a half year to roll out the perfect update.

Strong end-to-end encryption has been activated on the mobile messaging app across all mobile platforms. In order to get this latest update, WhatsApp users are required to upgrade their WhatsApp version to the latest one. All content, communication and media that will be shared on the messaging platform will now be protected by default. By protection here, we mean that even the company itself will not be able to access the data shared across the platform.

Facebook’s subsidiary has crossed the one billion user’s mark earlier this year, so it is safe to say that over one seventh of the world’s population is active on the mobile messaging app now – and all these users now have strong encryption security which means that it’s a milestone achieved in both the tech industry as well as the US authorities.

The encryption status is usually seen by a user at the top of the chat since the apps client makes the user aware of the chat’s encryption status. This will serve as a transitional phase for all the users since the encryption message will be right in their face on the chat. However, it should be mentioned that all those users that do not have the latest version of WhatsApp, they will not be able to access the new end-to-end encrypted security.

With the help of this latest development, any content exchanged via communication on the platform is not being stored on the company’s servers. Furthermore, the company does not even hold a decryption keys for these chats. It’s quite evident what the company has tried to do, they don’t want to be able to give any data to the authorities even if they have a warrant for it.

Recently, there was dispute between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the technology giant over an iPhone that belonged to one of the suspects in the San Bernardino Attack back in December. There was dispute because the government wanted the company to unlock the iPhone so that the authorities can get access to the data on the suspect’s smartphone however the company decline to comply. Apple helped the authorities as much as it could however when it came to creating a backdoor in the encrypted data stored on the device, the tech giant declined to do so.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp came up with it’s on advanced encryption software, it is the latest method of securing all forms of communication done on the platform. Many companies were in the favor of Apple during that showdown between the two. 

Facebook, Google and Snapchat To Up their Security Game

The social networking websites have decided to provide even stronger security platform to its customers amid Apple and FBI's battle.

Caught in a battle between Apple, Inc. the FBI and the US Government over encryption, a number of technology companies have decided to increase security on their platform. These technology companies include, Google, Snapchat as well as Facebook Inc.

Facebook Inc. wants its users to feel as secure as possible; the social media network already encrypts its WhatsApp, instant-messaging app’s messaging but it is now working on applying encryption to the voice calls as well as group messaged. As per a report by The Guardian that was published on Monday, the social networking website is also working on increasing the security on its Messenger chat tool. The service presently has over 1 billion users, and it wants to make sure that they are on a network on which they feel safe and have their photos, videos and call private.

Another social media app, Snapchat, which is a video messaging app, is also working on building an enhanced security feature for the application, as per the report by The Guardian who cited two people close to the matter. On the other hand, all of these tech giants have signed a ‘friend of the court’ brief showing support for Apple Inc., as the iPhone maker fights a battle with the government authorities over accessing data on a terrorist iPhone that was involved in the San Bernardino attack.

Additionally, Google is also working on making its platform more secure, for now, its investigating on whether encryption can be applied to other products that the search engine giant has been using as part of its End to End Project. Back in 2014, Google has revealed that it was working on its End to End email encryption Project with one of the oldest search engine websites on the internet, Yahoo! Inc. however they were constantly running into obstacles while implementing it.

Facebook is looking at making its instant messaging app, WhatsApp more secure as it is likely to be a part of a wiretapping lawsuit. This case could be quite similar to that of Apple Inc. and the FBI as the Federal Bureau would force the social networking platform for decrypt the messages or even the voice calls to disclose the communication that might have took place between the terrorists. Last month, as part of a drug investigation a Facebook executive was jailed because he failed to supply certain information regarding the instant messaging app to the officials.

Furthermore, despite of being in an intense argument with the Federal officials, Apple Inc. is planning on taken drastic measures to develop an even stronger security system for its iPhones. In the upcoming models, it is safe to say that even the tech organization itself will not be break down the security on the future iPhones.