EncryptionWhatsApp to add encryption to voice chats
Reports say that WhatsApp is planning to add encrypted video chats to its app in order to make it impossible for, so that nobody could snoop on its users. Adding encrypted voice chats will mean that all of the messages that pass through WhatsApp will be secure. Text messages are already encrypted.
Current encryption methods leave back door open // Source: brookings.edu
Reports say that WhatsApp is planning to add encrypted video chats to its app in order to make it impossible for, so that nobody could snoop on its users.
Fortune reports that the company is looking to bolster the security of its messaging app in response to the on-going dispute between the FBI and tech companies over whether these companies should make it easier to snoop on messages.
The Justice Department has sued Apple to force it to relax the encryption and security system with which the iPhone5 used by the San Bernardino terrorists was equipped. Apple argues that relaxing the security system – in the San Bernardino case, removing the 10-attempt limit on the number of times attempts may be made to break the phone’s password — would create a precedent which would weaken encryption on any handset.
WhatsApp has been involved in similar disputes. The company is arguing with the U.S. government about whether the government it should be granted access to encrypted chats, and one of Facebook’s vice-presidents was arrested in Brazil after WhatsApp refused to hand over user data to the country’s government (Facebook owns WhatsApp).
Fortunenotes that adding encrypted voice chats will mean that all of the messages that pass through WhatsApp will be secure. Text messages are already encrypted.
Experts say that Google, Facebook, and Snapchat are all working on similar products.
