WhatsApp has Encryption Now

End-to-end encryption for WhatsApp user, is a big move in the realm of information security and privacy privileges.

User privacy and security have been top-of-mind for almost everyone who uses any kind of Instant Messaging service.

Not anymore for the users of WhatsApp!

The messenger service with over a billion users has very recently brought out end-to-end encryption to each user- providing a secure a network for all their communication and media exchanged via the platform.

The messaging service, now owned by Facebook, announced their end-to-end encryption on April 5th, via a post, and via a notification on every WhatsApp user’s chat list.

The encryption is top-notch and is available on every platform, across operating systems. It took the company about 2 years to bring this idea of encryption into a reality for the users, but now that its implemented across the huge user base, it makes WhatsApp the undisputed leader of messaging services, promising the kind of privacy and security for their users, as those found in the most up-market enterprise software.

If you’re using the latest version of the app then you don’t need to do anything to activate the encryption; it will happen by default. If you’re not, then all you need to do is give your app an upgrade, and voila, you’re done!

“From now on when you and your contacts use the latest version of the app, every call you make, and every message, photo, video, file, and voice message you send, is end-to-end encrypted by default, including group chats,” WhatsApp proudly announced via their blog. “The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to. No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us.”

This level of security has been brought to you by Open Whisper Systems, led by a highly regarded cryptographer who uses the name “Moxie Marlinspike” and was once a key member of Twitter’s security team.

I would rather not go into the technicalities of how the end-to-end encryption works, simply because there are other questions of much more importance that need to be discussed.

Before we delve into those questions, let us take a step back and look at the encryption WhatsApp has brought to you in the light of other instant messaging services.
BBM has been known to be the messaging service to have encryption security for a while now. Apple’s iMessage too, has boasted of high-level encryption. iCloud secures your data by storing it in an encrypted format when kept on server and uses secure tokens for authentication.
There have been other services like Gliph, Wickr, TextSecure and others, across iOS and Android, that have over the years provided for similar security measures.

They’ve never, however gained popularity as WhatsApp has.

The question of user privacy has always been something of importance for most of us. This is precisely why WhatsApp bringing this particular encryption is something that can’t be seen without the context it stands in.

Even though the company had been working on it for about 2 years now, the announcement comes surprisingly close to the end of the FBI vs. Apple debacle, which had precisely been about user privacy in today’s multimedia world.

Quite recently we discussed how “free” public Wi-Fi is something that can easily be used for spying by governmental bodies on its citizens as well as by other commercial bodies for the purposes of advertising, out of sheer capitalism intent.

Messaging services in this regard, are no different. Everything put on the internet, in any form, is open for hacking, open for basically anyone who wants it and possesses the skills to break the tiny password that has been put on, or the money to pay for someone who can do the same.

In today’s world, on the one hand, you have governmental bodies out of sheer spying instinct, trying to get as much information about every citizen as possible while on the other hand, you have corporate and capitalist entities quite ready to pay any amount to someone who can do the same for them.

Will the end-to-end encryption is then going to anger quite a few of these people?

The question of protecting people from the possible spying of the governmental bodies is something that seems to be of prime importance.

It came into the highlight with Edward Snowden announcing to the world in 2013 the extent of state surveillance on its people via WikiLeaks and every other platform he possibly could.

“I grew up in the USSR during communist rule and the fact that people couldn’t speak freely is one of the reasons my family moved to the United States,” said Jan and Brian, the founders of WhatsApp, in the announcement blog.

Back in the days of the communist rule in the USSR, communication privacy did not exist for any of its citizens. Post 9/11, the U.S., and subsequently, other countries, seem to be turning slowly towards the same. “Recently there has been a lot of discussion about encrypted services and the work of law enforcement. While we recognize the important work of law enforcement in keeping people safe, efforts to weaken encryption risk exposing people’s information to abuse from cybercriminals, hackers, and rogue states”.

While authorities in the U.S. perhaps might be a little reluctant to show their expected frustration at WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption, there are other countries that probably won’t be so. One such country is China, where quite big governmental lash-back can be expected towards WhatsApp’s encryption.

“Authorities around the world are likely to take issue, but expect a lot of pushback from China, where the government has shown little tolerance for encryption, and even less tolerance for foreign social media apps”, said John Horwitz, an expert, in a post on Quartz. Services like WhatsApp, their parent Facebook, Instagram, Line and KakaoTalk, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Hotmail, and even Google have faced severe back-lashes with timed or untimed bans in China over the years.

While backlash is expected and hopefully provisioned for, one thing is certain: this is a big victory for the advocate of user privacy and security.

With Snowden’s announcements having opened the debate not more than three years ago, this should have been expected.

Every WhatsApp user can now rejoice and share, safely and with the utmost privacy.

Originally published at Chip-Monks.