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The popular mobile instant messaging application WhatsApp set an encryption system that makes it impossible for a third party to access content sent.
those responsible for WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook and has 1,000 million users worldwide, made the announcement Tuesday through the following message appeared on the phones of their customers: “calls and messages they sent to this chat are now secure encryption end to end “.
But what does” encryption end to end “and why this new measure should matter as users?
High security
WhatsApp said that even they can decipher content sent through your application thanks to a protocol called Signal and designed by open Whisper Systems, a community of volunteers around the world that is dedicated to developing open source software, available for free for anyone wishing to modify or redistribute way.
Each message or file, as WhatsApp, is sent with a unique encryption , without adjusting or create special secret chats. This restricts the ability of third parties to decrypt these codes.
The application had already implemented a system encrypted in 2014 for certain mobile messages, making it difficult to trace by the authorities.
Apple vs. FBI
The encryption of talks was launched weeks after the FBI requested help from Apple to access data from an iPhone used by Syed Farook, who with her woman killed 14 people in a shooting in San Bernardino, California, in late 2015.
When Apple CEO Tim Cook announced last February that it would take legal action for not providing the information to the FBI, the cofounder of WhatsApp, Jan Koum said in your Facebook account. “Our freedom and privacy are at stake”
on 29 March, the Federal Bureau of Investigation US (FBI, for its acronym in English) announced that managed access content iPhone Farook, without revealing how.
This news opened questions about the strength of the security of Apple devices.
the new protection system WhatsApp becomes a stumbling block for the authorities, for even own courier company will have the tools to decode the content that is sent by the application.
is it normal to encrypt data?
WhatsApp, like no other company in the past has led data encryption to the masses, according to an article in the specialized technology publication Wired.
However, both Apple and Google apply the same system in their cell to protect information sensitive against possible attacks by hackers.
text messages (SMS) and Facetime tool mobile Apple already have a messaging system encrypted end to end.
there are other messaging applications with encryption end to end as Telegram, which is known for be used by the self-styled Islamic State.
you might think that encrypt data is a long and cumbersome process, but actually were 15 engineers -of the 50 that make up the small team WhatsApp- who adjusted the protocol Open Whisper Systems software free application created in 2009 by two former employees of Yahoo!
You can turn off?
the answer is not. cell phones and computers (where it is also possible to install WhatsApp) must have the latest version of the application and automatically changes will be made. It will not be possible to disable the encryption.
The co-founder of WhatsApp, Brian Acton, told Wired that with encrypted messages, including anyone could be an informer without having to worry about knowable identity.
Measure welcome
After the dispute between the FBI and Apple, and the revelations made by Edward Snowden for three years on the digital surveillance, users do care about the protection of their data, said in an article in the British newspaper the Guardian Danny Yadron, technology journalist.
Although WhatsApp not previously consulted its members on the implementation of this system, the decision has been held on social networks and by organizations such as Amnesty International, which called it a “great victory” for freedom of expression.
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