WhatsApp will now encrypt chat backups in Google Drive and iCloud with end-to-end encryption.
WhatsApp has released a big privacy update, which includes the addition of end-to-end encryption to chat backups. All of the platform’s messages and calls are already end-to-end encrypted, which means that no third party, even WhatsApp, can read them. Users, on the other hand, rely on backups to save and restore their chats, especially when switching devices. Chat backups were previously unencrypted and so open to unauthorised access.
For more than a decade, the Facebook-owned service has offered end-to-end encrypted communications between users. However, users have had no choice but to save their conversation backups in an unencrypted manner to their cloud — iCloud on iPhones and Google Drive on Android.
One of the commonly known methods law enforcement agencies around the world have been able to access suspect individuals’ WhatsApp communications for years is by tapping these unencrypted WhatsApp chat backups on Google and Apple servers.
“We’re adding another layer of privacy and security to WhatsApp: an end-to-end encryption option for the backups people choose to keep in Google Drive or iCloud,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement announcing the new development. WhatsApp is the first worldwide messaging service of this magnitude to offer end-to-end encrypted communications and backups, and getting there was a huge technological challenge that necessitated an entirely new key storage and cloud storage framework across operating systems.”
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The business claims to have developed a mechanism that allows WhatsApp users on Android and iOS to encrypt their chat backups. WhatsApp claims it would provide users with two options for encrypting their cloud backups, both of which are optional.
WhatsApp users will be able to obtain a 64-digit encryption key to lock their chat backups in the cloud in the “coming weeks.” Users can save the encryption key offline or in their preferred password manager, or they can create a password that backs up their encryption key in WhatsApp’s cloud-based “backup key vault.” Without the user’s password, which WhatsApp does not know, the cloud-stored encryption key cannot be utilised.
“We understand that some people like a 64-digit encryption key while others want something simple to memorise, so we’ll provide both alternatives. We don’t know what a user’s backup password is once they’ve set it. If they forget, they can restore it on their original device,” WhatsApp explained.
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When consumers sign up for end-to-end encrypted backups, we will tell them numerous times that if they lose their 64-digit key, we will not be able to recover their backup and that they should write it down. We’ll prompt consumers to confirm that they’ve saved their password or 64-digit encryption key before the setup is complete.”
Governments continue to fight for backdoors, making end-to-end encryption a contentious issue. After the FBI complained, Apple was apparently pressed to not add encryption to iCloud Backups, and while Google has provided customers with the opportunity to encrypt data saved in Google Drive, the company allegedly did not notify governments before implementing the feature.
When questioned by Tech Crunch if WhatsApp or its parent company Facebook had talked with government organizations throughout the development of this functionality — or if it had obtained their support — the company declined to comment.
WhatsApp also stated that this optional functionality will be available in all markets where the app is available. For legal and regulatory reasons, it’s not uncommon for corporations to withhold privacy features. Users in totalitarian countries such as China, Belarus, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, and the Philippines, for example, will not be able to access Apple’s future encrypted browsing function.
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