The Whatsapp End-to-End Encryption Update- All you need to know about it.

   Whatsapp recently released a new update as they regularly do and this latest update comes with a special feature which is the end to end encryption feature. If you recently updated your application you would have seen a message like this once you open up any new chat: 'Messages sent to this chat and calls are now secured with end-to-end encryption. Tap for more info'. 

   If you bothered to check further, you’d be made to understand that your messages and calls to such a number is now secured with end to end encryption and as such Whatsapp and other third parties cannot read your messages.

      In layman terms, what does end to end encryption actually mean? Simply put, it is a technique by which Whatsapp protects messages sent between you and your contacts. Now supposed you have updated your Whatsapp application and the contact you want to send a message to has also done likewise, messages sent between you and that contact are encrypted such that only you and the person on the receiving end whom you are communicating with can read whatever is exchanged. Nobody in between, not even Whatsapp can read that message.

   How does it work? First of all you have to know what encryption is. Encryption is simply the process of encoding messages or information in such a way that only authorized parties can read it, it could involve scrambling the data in such a way that only someone with the secret code can read it. Since we know what encryption is we can now understand how end-to-end encryption works. It goes like this: when I send a message to a contact on my list whose device supports that feature, the message is secured with a lock. The special key needed to unlock and read that message is held by only you and the recipient of that message. Also every message exchanged has its own unique lock and key for added protection and all these happens automatically. There are no special settings to turn on. Your Whatsapp calls are also encrypted the same way and therefore no third party can listen in on your conversations.

If you want to verify if it is actually true, open a contact on your Whatsapp contact list, tap on the option that says ‘view contact’ and you’ll see a message under ‘Encryption’. If your messages are encrypted a padlock icon that is locked in place in Green color will be visible as sown in the image below. To further verify you can tap on that Encryption menu and follow the instructions as written below the bar code.

   Now you might ask, what happens to all the messages sent prior to the end-to-end encryption update feature; do third parties have access to them? Most likely they do not. Whatsapp makes it known that once the messages have been delivered they are not stored on Whatsapp servers so it’s not possible for anyone to have access to them. With this new feature, even if the messages are not delivered and as such can it be immediately removed from the servers, Whatsapp and other third parties cannot read them either.

   As you can see there are advantages to this new feature most of which boils down to one thing ,SECURITY'. With this new feature, the confidentiality of Whatsapp users and their privacy is protected. Communication is more secure than ever on this medium. Hackers will have no access to messages they have no business having in the first place (except if they are able to crack the 256-bit key used to secure the messages). Cyber criminals also are restricted. The government especially those oppressive regimes can read that message. Your calls also cannot be listened in on. Your conversations are kept private.

   With all these privacy allowed for, issues are bound to arise. Social issues arise like what happens when a criminal has to have his contacts and communications monitored. What happens when the government wants to intercept the messages of individuals with criminal intent who want to unleash terror? How do they do this? In some countries legal issues arise. For example I read an article that made claims that Whastapp end-to-end encryption might just have made the app illegal in India. The writer stated that in India, according to the 2007 rule issued by the Department of Telecommunication, private companies can use encryption up to 40 bits and if they want to go higher than the set limit they need to seek permission from the government. Whatsapp in this case uses a 256 bit encryption which is way higher than the set limit. Does that make it illegal in India? The Indian express seems to disagree with the following statement “India does not have any regulation in place for OTT messaging apps like Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger and certainly nothing stipulates what type of encryption they can use”. How far would this debate go on? Will other issues arise? We can only guess.

However in my opinion, I think the new end-to-end encryption feature in the new update is a great one. It’s one of the best things that could ever happen to the app users in this era of leaks and hacking of information. Let my secrets remain my secrets. What about you? What’s your view on this new update?