![]() The cloud-stored encryption key can’t be used without the user’s password, which isn’t known to WhatsApp. Users can store the encryption key offline or in a password manager of their choice, or they can create a password that backs up their encryption key in a cloud-based “backup key vault” that WhatsApp has developed. Users on WhatsApp will see an option to generate a 64-digit encryption key to protect their chat backups in the cloud. WhatsApp says it will offer users two ways to encrypt their cloud backups. The company devised a system to enable WhatsApp users on Android and iOS to lock their chat backups with encryption keys. WhatsApp began testing the feature with a small group of users last month. “Proud of the team for continuing to lead on security for your private conversations,” he wrote in a post on his Facebook page. Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of Facebook, noted that WhatsApp is the first global messaging service at this scale to offer end-to-end encrypted messaging and backups. Apple’s new encrypted browsing feature isn’t available to users in certain authoritarian regimes, such as China, Belarus, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Uganda and the Philippines.) The feature is optional, the company said. (It’s not uncommon for companies to withhold privacy features for legal and regulatory reasons. WhatsApp, which processes over 100 billion messages a day, is closing that weak link, and tells TechCrunch that it’s providing this new feature to users in every market where the app is operational. It has been widely reported that law enforcement agencies across the globe have been able to access the private communications between suspect individuals on WhatsApp by exploiting this loophole. (For iPhone users, the chat history is stored in iCloud, and Android users rely on Google Drive.) But users have had no means to protect the backup of those chats stored in the cloud. ![]() ![]() WhatsApp has long encrypted chats between users on its app. WhatsApp is beginning to roll out a new feature that will provide its two billion users the option to encrypt their chat history backup in iCloud or Google Drive, patching a major loophole that has been exploited by governments to obtain and review private communication between individuals.
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