WhatsApp Reveals Encryption Service That is the Largest of Its Kind
WhatsApp is adding a default encryption services for messages sent on its platform, with the service being deemed ast the largest encryption service of its kind. The end-to-end encryption is brought on by TextSecure, a software that scrambles messages with a device-specific cryptographic key.
The service is brought over to over 600 million users, the largest of its kind which has been dubbed as "practically uncrackable." The enhancement means that the encrypted messages cannot be deciphered while stored or in transmission between devices.
The change has been under development over the last six months since WhatsApp was purchased by Facebook for $22 billion. WhatsApp has been working with a privacy-oriented nonprofit company Open Whisper Systems to develop the service.
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End-to-end encryption is difficult to decrypt since the unscrambling keys to access the messages are only stored in the users' devices. Previously, the keys were stored in WhatsApp servers as well, which meant giving company and Facebook admininstrators access to its user's messages.
"Respect for privacy is coded into our DNA, and we built WhatsApp around the gola of knowing as little about you as possible," says WhatsApp founder and CEO Jan Koum. Moxie Marlinspike, Open Whisper System's creator commented on the encryption project's huge scale.
"I do think this is the largest deployment of end-to-end encryption ever," he said.
Currently, the encryption service is only limited to Android users but Marlinspike mentions that the app is set to roll out on other platforms like iOS in time.
