Worrying about the safety of your Whatsapp images, videos, and every other bit of personal information you send across the platform is a thing of the past. Whatsapp has introduced a huge update to its 1 Billion (and counting) users. All the information that you send via Whatsapp is now encrypted.
How does this Whatsapp update affect us?
Earlier Whatsapp encrypted its text messages, starting November 2014, and has now extended this courtesy to images, videos, documents, and any other bit of information as well. This gives you complete safety of your private details and gives you protection from hackers and other agencies that are snooping in your business.
Attackers who will try to attack Whatsapp systems will now have to face stiff obstacles before they can even begin to penetrate the system. Since Whatsapp controls messages centrally and has a greater control over the code that runs on servers and phones, even if an attack has to happen, it will happen with immense help from Whatsapp itself.
This encryption also means that even major players in Whatsapp can’t get access to your personal information. This is security at its highest.
What are its implications?
While this encryption does enhance our security, it also poses a threat. With such encrypted facilities, it becomes easy for people of mass destruction to discuss their plans through this medium. Since the chances of them getting caught are really highly unlikely, it becomes a safe haven for such people. Also, even if attackers are caught, it becomes near-to-impossible to decrypt their conversations, thus blocking crucial points to convict them. It is what happened with Apple’s fight with the FBI although now the FBI has managed to get into the attacker’s iPhone.
It is a very dicey situation: compromising users’ safety over a few peoples’ atrocities. But, it has become very clear that Whatsapp is on the side of the users and has indeed promised complete protection of their information.
*Image Courtesy: The Verge
