WhatsApp Starts Encrypting User Messages on Android Devices
19 October 2018 18:41 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Instant messenger application Whats App is taking step to improve security by adding encryption system for the app installed on Android-based devices. This upgrade will encrypt messages all the way through the transmission process and on their own servers.
The encryption system is developed by Open Whisper System which had also developed secure text-messaging and encrypted calling apps like TextSecure, RedPhone, Signal and Flock.
“iOS and other platforms are soon to follow,” The New York Times wrote on Friday.
WhatsApp with its 600 million users is sure a potential target for hackers looking to steal personal information or private photos. The End-to-end encryption adopted by WhatsApp protects messages at every step. They’re only decrypted once they get to the person they’re intended to reach, and they stay encrypted on WhatsApp’s servers.
“This level of privacy has typically only been found in smaller, specialty security-focused software, so it’s exciting to see it happen on this scale,” said Moxie Marlinspike, the well-respected security researcher who co-founded Open Whisper Systems, as quoted by The New York Times.
Mr Marlinspike said encryption would be turned on by default in WhatsApp as the encryption is unveiled, so users will not have to do anything to make it work. So, WhatsApp will not be able to read its users’ messages, and someone who intercepts them cannot read them without a decryption key.
THE NEW YORK TIMES | SATWIKA MOVEMENTI