Facebook introduces encrypted WhatsApp backups

announced Facebook Inc said that end-to-end encrypted backups of WhatsApp for iOS and Android are available starting Thursday.

The company has provided end-to-end encryption of conversations for years. But with this new change, you can get the same level of encryption with your backups.

The feature is slowly rolling out to people using the latest version of the app. The platform took this step to block one of the difficult ways in which private communication between individuals can be hacked through the application.

WhatsApp backups are stored in iCloud or Google Drive. But this does mean that Apple or Google can hand the backups over to governments or law enforcement if they have to.

And with the change available today Thursday, you can secure your WhatsApp cloud backups with a password or a 64-digit encryption key, which in theory means that only you will be able to access the backup.

Neither WhatsApp nor the backup service provider will be able to read the backups or access the key required to unlock them.

“WhatsApp is built on the simple idea that what you share with your friends and family stays between you,” Facebook said. Five years ago, we added end-to-end encryption by default, which protects more than 100 billion messages per day as they travel between more than two billion users.

And while the end-to-end encrypted messages you send and receive are stored on your device, many people also want a way to back up their conversations in case they lose their phone. Starting today, we offer an optional additional layer of security to protect backups stored via iCloud or Google Drive with end-to-end encryption.

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Facebook brings extra security to your backup

The company boasted that no other global messaging service with this range would provide this level of security for users’ messages, media, voice messages, video calls, and chat backups.

Users of the platform see an option to generate a 64-digit encryption key to lock chat backups in the cloud. Users can store the encryption key offline or in a password manager of their choice. Or they can create a password that supports their encryption key in a cloud-based backup key vault that the company has developed.

The encryption key stored in the cloud cannot be used without the user’s password. “We know that some prefer the 64-digit encryption key,” WhatsApp said. While others want something they can easily remember. So we include both options.

Once an encrypted backup is created, the previous versions of the backups are deleted. This happens automatically, and there is no action for the user to take.

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