WhatsApp quietly adds encryption to iCloud backups
The Facebook-owned chatting service has apparently quietly beefed up the security of an iCloud backup feature.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp has reportedly added encryption to iCloud backups. Previously, when a user would back up their chats through WhatsApp to iCloud, the backup files weren’t encrypted.
According to Forbes, the security feature was apparently added to WhatsApp late last year. However, it only emerged recently after Oxygen Forensics — a third party company which supplies mobile and cloud hacking tools — claimed to be able to find a way around the security measure.
A WhatsApp spokesperson confirmed iCloud backups are now being encrypted, telling Forbes: “When a user backs up their chats through WhatsApp to iCloud, the backup files are sent encrypted.”
Hackers these days are making use of forensic tools to download encrypted WhatsApp data backed up to iCloud. Oxygen Forensics told Forbes that by simply making use of an associated SIM, a hacker could generate the encryption key for decrypting the data and pass the verification process again. However, WhatsApp seems to have fixed this major loophole now.