The much hyped end to end encryption that was talked about since a very long time was launched by WhatsApp on Wednesday. This feature takes all the more accolades after the recent FBI – Apple row regarding unlocking of a certain iPhone used by a certain terrorist during some bombings and believed to contain important data that the terrorist may have stored on the device. WhatsApp end to end encryption is a step by parent company facebook to ensure that law enforcing agencies do not knock its doors to demand data that has been sent or received by a certain user.
The basic fundamental aspect behind this update is that WhatsApp or anyone, for that matter will not be able to read any message not intended for him / her. No person, including the company itself will be able to hear the calls that one makes, nor view, store any images that are sent from one individual to another. Any data transfer that takes place on WhatsApp from now on will be encrypted at the point of origin and can be decrypted only when it reaches the intended user’s device. This is what end to end encryption means in a nutshell.
Announcing and making the feature public, Jan Koum, CEO and co-founder of WhatsApp said in a blog post – The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to. No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us. This does bring in a sense of security and relief to millions of users worldwide but it also raises concerns about anti social elements using WhatsApp on a large scale to prevent detection.
