#Whatsapp extortion android#
Working across Android and iOS remains its best defense against iMessage, even if it falls short technically.
#Whatsapp extortion update#
But that shouldn’t detract from just how significant this encrypted backup update is for WhatsApp.
It’s unlikely that WhatsApp will be able to match the sophistication of iMessage’s solution. As long as you disable the generic iCloud backup, Apple cannot get hold of a key to that encryption, whatever law enforcement requests it might receive. IMessage already offers a secure cloud option, allowing multiple devices to access a common message store, and protecting that entire trusted device ecosystem with end-to-end encryption. If this approach survives to launch, then Apple’s iMessage solution will remain much better. The strength of that encryption will be important, and it requires an additional user step, rather than being enabled by default without a new password that users must set and remember. WABetaInfo refers to the use of a password to encrypt a backup, not the extension of end-to-end encryption. According to WABetaInfo, “the password is private, and it's not sent to WhatsApp.”ĭisable WhatsApp cloud backups on Android. A password set by WhatsApp users to protect their cloud backups. And now, according to the eagle-eyed WABetaInfo, that fix is on its way. There has been speculation for some time that WhatsApp plans to fix this problem. From a user perspective, it’s unprotected by end-to-end encryption, it can be accessed. Telegram’s default is to store all its users’ messages on its own cloud-the fact this isn’t a “third-party” public cloud is irrelevant. Telegram never relies on third-party cloud backups, and Secret Chats are never backed up anywhere.” There’s a serious caveat here, though. And it’s made worse because WhatsApp advises users to restore your chat history from this unsecured cloud backup when you update to a new phone.Īttacking WhatsApp for this weakness, Durov said that “users don’t want to lose their chats when they change devices, so they back up the chats in services like iCloud – often without realizing their backups are not encrypted. It means WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption is pointless if cloud backups are enabled.