With the ongoing issue of security where the FBI has locked horns with Apple over the recent encryption battle, and the detention of Facebook’s VP in Brazil over WhatsApp data, WhatsApp seems to gear up itself to avoid future issues.
Presently, WhatsApp does encrypt its text messages between the sender and receiver, but with the increasing demand of the authorities to open the users’ data to the government, there are high chances that the backdoor to such data could fall into wrong hands and cause a major concern over users’ privacy.
Facebook’s messaging service is planning to secure the WhatsApp platform’s voice calls by encrypting it, adding to the existing privacy features. Facebook is planning to do the same with Messenger too. On the other hand, Twitter and Snapchat are also joining the bandwagon with similar projects after Apple ran into a court battle with the Department of Justice after being asked to hack into a suspected terrorist’s iPhone.
However, the US President has a different opinion on the entire case, stating that if the encryption on technology is going to continue to move even stronger, it will be a matter of time when criminals (or even anyone) can be walking around with a Swiss bank account in their pocket.
The Guardian reported that two people familiar with the matter mentioned about WhatsApp moving strongly towards a highly encrypted feature in the coming weeks. WhatsApp has been working on a strong encryption since more than a year now, making it equally difficult for authorities to tap into the service. Further to the issue with Brazil’s Facebook VP getting sues for not allowing investigators into the WhatsApp messages of some drug traffickers, the messaging platform plans to offer its users with encrypted voice and group messaging. WhatsApp will soon make a formal announcement on this.
