WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, to increase end-to-end encryption
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook Inc., said that the firm is increasing end-to-end encryption on its WhatsApp messaging service.
Sending text messages on WhatsApp is already secured so that only the sender and receiver can view it. Alphabet Inc.’s Google Drive and Apple Inc.’s iCloud allow people to back up their communications in the cloud. Apple and Google, on the other hand, may have access to WhatsApp’s backups.
By enabling end-to-end encryption on Facebook backups, users can ensure that neither WhatsApp nor cloud-service providers can access their data.
“We’re adding another layer of privacy and security,” Zuckerberg said. “WhatsApp is the first global messaging service at this scale to offer end-to-end encrypted messaging and backups, and getting there was a really hard technical challenge.”
It comes at a time when Facebook’s messaging service privacy standards are under investigation. One of ProPublica’s recent reports highlighted how contract employees go through millions of private communications marked as potentially harmful. Thereafter, the nonprofit investigative organisation clarified that WhatsApp did not violate end-to-end encryption.
Facebook and other internet firms have been encouraged by government authorities to scale back encryption of messaging tools to help to investigate crimes simpler.
