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Tag: whatsapp encryption

  • WhatsApp provides help for end-to-end encrypted backups on Android, iOS

    WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption and its common emphasis on safety is among the USPs of the app. However, earlier this yr, WhatsApp’s integration with Google Drive or iCloud not too long ago got here underneath the crosshair because the backups that the moment messaging device would take and retailer on these cloud-based platforms didn’t take pleasure in the identical encryption safety that the chats had.
    Fast ahead to a couple weeks in the past and WhatsApp introduced that it will be bringing end-to-end encrypted backups to its customers. That function lastly goes stay in the present day and can quickly be rolled out to each iOS and Android units with a brand new replace. WhatsApp is asking the transfer “the final step in providing a full end-to-end encrypted messaging experience”.

    ”With end-to-end encrypted backups, no different messaging service at WhatsApp’s scale will present this degree of safety for individuals’s messages – from sending and transit, to receiving and storing within the cloud,” the corporate stated in a publish.
    “For years we’ve offered people the ability to backup their WhatsApp chats so that they can restore their WhatsApp in case they lose their phone or switch phones. We are now rolling out an option for iOS and Android users to create an end-to-end encrypted backup as an additional layer of security for those who want it. If someone chooses to backup their chat history with end-to-end encryption, it will be accessible only to them, and no one will be able to unlock their backup, not even WhatsApp. Neither WhatsApp nor the backup service provider (like Apple) will be able to access their end-to-end encryption key or their end-to-end encrypted backup,” WhatsApp provides.

    “You can now secure your end-to-end encrypted backup with either a password of your choice or a 64-digit encryption key that only you know. Neither WhatsApp nor your backup service provider will be able to read your backups or access the key required to unlock it,” the corporate added.
    How to create an end-to-end encrypted backup?
    To create an end-to-end encrypted backup, customers will first want to verify they’re on the most recent model of WhatsApp. To create a backup, navigate to Settings>Chats>Chat Backups>End-to-End Encrypted Backup, after which observe the prompts to create one.

  • Tech corporations should not use encryption as ‘excuse’ to stall probes: IT secy

    India expects that expertise corporations is not going to use encryption as an excuse to carry up investigations and can play their half in bringing criminals to justice, the highest authorities official in India’s expertise ministry stated on Tuesday.

    India earlier this 12 months launched guidelines that require non-public messaging apps reminiscent of WhatsApp to reveal the originator of disinformation when requested, a transfer that the Facebook-owned firm says will pressure it to interrupt end-to-end encryption.

    “Encryption is a welcome thing most of the time… (but) when it is necessary to come to the assistance of law enforcement agencies to bring perpetrators of wrongdoing to justice then we expect that encryption will not be held up as a silly excuse to deny that,” Ajay Prakash Sawhney, the secretary at India’s IT Ministry, talking on the digital Global Fintech Fest convention, stated.

    The secretary didn’t identify any messaging app.

    His feedback come at a time WhatsApp has challenged India’s new IT guidelines in courtroom saying the laws will result in a “dangerous invasion of privacy” and are “unconstitutional”.

    WhatsApp didn’t reply to a Reuters’ request looking for touch upon Sawhney’s remarks.

    The final result of the courtroom case is essential to WhatsApp’s future in India, its largest market with over 500 million customers and the place it’s betting large on funds and monetary providers to broaden its enterprise.

    WhatsApp launched funds in India final 12 months and competes with the likes of Ant Group-backed Paytm and Walmart’s PhonePe for a slice of the nation’s digital funds market that’s anticipated to develop at a mean 27% annual fee over 5 years to achieve $95.7 trillion by the fiscal 12 months 2024-25.

    Separately, WhatsApp’s India head Abhijit Bose additionally participated within the Global Fintech Fest occasion, the place he showcased the corporate’s monetary inclusion push, reminiscent of pensions and insurance coverage, in India.

    This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content. Only the headline has been modified. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a legitimate e-mail * Thank you for subscribing to our e-newsletter.

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  • WhatsApp might quickly add end-to-end encryption for native and cloud backups: Report

    While WhatsApp has at all times been massive on privateness through its end-to-end encryption function the app’s native backups and on-line backups have been a safety loophole. Unlike the app’s chats that are end-to-end-encrypted, the chat backups are usually not, making them prone to assaults. This places a customers’ chats and media information in danger.
    To remedy the problem, WhatsApp has been engaged on a function that can permit its Cloud backups through Google Drive and that iCloud to even be end-to-end encrypted. Now, a brand new leak by WABetaInfo additionally means that WhatsApp might be including end-to-end encryption to its native offline chat backups too.

    Check out the tweet beneath.

    🆕 WhatsApp can also be working to deliver end-to-end encrypted LOCAL backups on WhatsApp beta for Android!They have been engaged on E2EE backups on Google Drive, however they are going to lengthen the function for native backups as nicely.
    This function will likely be accessible in a future replace. pic.twitter.com/2YbulmqiUQ
    — WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) August 3, 2021
    Note that WhatsApp’s present native backups are encrypted, simply not end-to-end encrypted. This means they might be weak to a breach by decryption on a third-party gadget. The new function will repair this and can shield conversations from hackers who might remotely acquire entry to domestically saved WhatsApp backups.

    Note that the function shouldn’t be accessible to public customers but and it might be some time earlier than everybody will get the replace. Meanwhile, if you’re part of WhatsApp’s beta programme, you’ll quickly be capable to check out the function by heading into the chat backup settings, the place it’s best to see the brand new possibility, as proven within the embedded tweet above.
    In the secure model, WhatsApp not too long ago added the power to ship disappearing images with its ‘view once’ function. The function is much like the expiring media on Instagram, additionally a platform owned by Facebook. You can learn extra in regards to the WhatsApp view as soon as function and how one can use it right here.

  • WhatsApp to roll out password-protected chats backup function quickly

    WhatsApp is reportedly engaged on rolling out a safety function to guard your chat backups with password and encryption. WABetaInfo, a weblog that tracks developments of the Facebook-owned messaging app, reported a 12 months in the past that the safety replace is a work-in-progress. However, it just lately shared screenshots of the way it might be introduced within the service’s iOS and Android apps. “To stop unauthorized entry to your iCloud Drive backup, you possibly can set a password that can be used to encrypt future backups,” one of the screenshots reads. “This password will be required when you restore from the backup.” The app then asks the person to substantiate their cellphone quantity, and choose a password that’s a minimum of eight characters lengthy. Another screenshot warns that “WhatsApp won’t be able to assist recuperate forgotten passwords.” • The chat database is already encrypted now (excluding media), however the algorithm is reversible and it is not end-to-end encrypted. • Local Android backups can be suitable with this function.The chat DB and media can be encrypted utilizing a password that solely you understand. https://t.co/WAliLUnF18— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) March 8, 2021

    Although you possibly can defend WhatsApp with a password lock and the chats are already encrypted, as the corporate says, the service warns that this safety doesn’t lengthen to on-line backups saved on Google Drive and iCloud proper now. Thus, encrypting the backups with a password solely you understand would theoretically stop anybody from accessing your chat historical past with out your authorization. These newest experiences in regards to the function come as WhatsApp’s status has taken a success from a brand new privateness coverage, which has stoked fears that it could retailer extra data with dad or mum firm Facebook In January, WhatsApp had launched its privateness coverage mandating its customers to simply accept its phrases and situations, failing which the accounts and providers could be terminated after February 8, 2021, for the respective person. After going through criticism over the privateness coverage, WhatsApp took to micro-blogging website Twitter to make clear that “no one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8 and we will be moving back our business plans until after May.” Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a sound e mail * Thank you for subscribing to our publication.