In the wake of last week’s
terrorist attack in Westminster, the British government on Sunday disclosed
that its security services must have access to encrypted messaging applications
such as WhatsApp, revealing it was used by the killer behind the parliament
attack.
In this piece, Yudala – the
largest online and offline retail chain – examines the benefits of WhatsApp
encryption and why access to these encrypted messages by a third-party may mean
less privacy for you.
Created in 2009 as an alternative
to text messaging, WhatsApp is today one of the world’s most popular instant
messaging service with over one billion users in 180 countries.
According to a
May 2016 report from research firm SimilarWeb, WhatsApp is the top chat app in
109 countries, including Brazil, India, and the United Kingdom. Facebook
acquired WhatsApp in 2014 to make a bigger play in the rapidly-growing
messaging market, along with its own Messenger platform. At the time the deal
was announced, WhatsApp had 450 million users worldwide.
Khalid Masood, the 52-year-old
Briton who killed four people before being shot dead in a rampage in Westminster
on Wednesday, reportedly used WhatsApp to send a message some moments before
the assault – a discovery that has seen the UK government determined to gain
access to the end-to-end encrypted messages sent through the app.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd affirmed
that it was “completely unacceptable” that police and security services had not
been able to crack the heavily encrypted service.
“You can’t have a situation where
you have terrorists talking to each other — where this terrorist sent a
WhatsApp message — and it can’t be accessed,” she said.
WHAT
DOES WHATSAPP END-TO-END ENCRYPTION MEAN?
WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption
ensures only you and the person you're communicating with can read what is sent
and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp. Your messages are secured with a lock
and, only the recipient and you, have the special key needed to unlock and read
your message. For added protection, every message you send has a unique lock
and key. All of this happens automatically: no need to turn on settings or set
up special secret chats to secure your messages.
It is also important to note that
end-to-end encryption is always activated, provided all parties are using the
latest version of WhatsApp. There is no way to turn off end-to-end encryption. End-to-end
encryption is available when you and the people you message are on the latest
versions of WhatsApp.
The benefits of end-to-end
encryption on WhatsApp are numerous and has remained one of the major factors
that has contributed to the growing popularity of the Facebook-owned service.
These benefits include:
Privacy: With
end-to-end encryption in place, people can communicate with each other and
express themselves freely without fear of unintended people gaining access to
their private stuff. This way, you can talk to your doctor about your
medication, hold intimate chat sessions with your spouse/partner or have a
discussion with an associate about a business proposal without the fear of
being overheard or the call being tapped.
Safe
group chats: Group chats are also safely encrypted, thereby
lending an air of confidentiality to messages sent in such a forum. With
encryption featuring in group chats, non-group members will have no clue at all
about the happenings in the group. This makes it more attractive for people
with like minds and interests to discuss their affairs in WhatsApp groups
without the fear of being overheard.
Encryption
works by default: Encryption setting is turned on by default by
WhatsApp in all devices. If you are running the version of WhatsApp that has
encryption support, you will be informed of this on your chat screen when you
send messages across along with a lock symbol next to the confirmation screen.
You can also verify the default ON setting by making use of a unique QR code on
the phone of each contact in your list. In case, for some reason, the default
encryption setting does not get activated, you can do it yourself through a
simple process. In your chat window, just click on your contact’s name at the
top of the window to display his or her profile details. You will find an
option to turn the encryption on.
WhatsApp
can’t read your messages: End-to-end encryption means that even if it
wanted to, WhatsApp cannot gain access to your messages. In other words, only
the sender and receiver can read intended messages. Not even WhatsApp employees
or hackers will be able to gain access to the messages sent or received. This
applies to any form of messages – text, images, videos and files.
Encryption
works on all devices: The encryption in WhatsApp works using an
open-source protocol known as Signal that is developed by an organization
called Open Whsiper Systems. This company has worked in close association with
WhatsApp in determining its requirements and the level of encryption to be
provided. The app ensures that smartphones featuring this app support the
encryption and decryption keys to be applied to messages going out and coming
into the device. The encryption technology is supported by all recent WhatsApp
versions running on Android, Windows, iPhones, and Nokia phones. Keeping in
line with the usual trend, WhatsApp first introduced encryption on Android
before extending it to other platforms.
Even
in error, you are protected: WhatsApp has become very focused on making
encryption mandatory that it now refuses to work on unencrypted messages. If a
person tries to send a contact an unencrypted message, WhatsApp will
immediately prevent him or her from doing so. Additionally, the sender will be
informed that this is because the messages being sent from his or her end are
not encrypted.
No
server hacks with end-to-end encryption: When the encryption process was
first implemented by WhatsApp, it took place over a central hub. Messages
management and key exchange coordination take place centrally, apart from
central control of the encrypted code that is executed on both the servers and
mobile phones. However, this did not result in complete safety and paved way
for end-to-end encryption. As a result, messages will get decrypted only on the
receivers’ handsets rather than in between the server and the handsets.
@Yudala
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