WhatsApp Launches Encrypted Cloud Backup Feature, Prevents User Chats From Being Peeked!

WhatsApp has started rolling out a new feature that allows its users to encrypt chat history backups. (photo: doc. unplash)

JAKARTA - WhatsApp has started rolling out a new feature that allows users to encrypt backups of their chat history on iCloud or Google Drive.

The feature, which was tested earlier last month, aims to patch a major loophole that the government has exploited to capture and review private communications between individuals.

WhatsApp does have an end-to-end encrypted chat feature between users in its app. But users don't yet have the feature to protect chat backups stored in the cloud. Therefore, this feature is present as a form of the company's attention to its two billion users regarding the security of its services.

"While the end-to-end encrypted messages you send and receive are stored on your device, many people also want a way to back up their chats in case they lose their phone," WhatsApp said in its official blog quoted from TechCrunch, Friday, October 15.

In addition, several reports emerged that law enforcement agencies around the world were able to access private communications between suspected individuals on WhatsApp by exploiting loopholes in the feature's previous absence.

WhatsApp, which processes more than 100 billion messages per day, closed the weak link, and now the new feature is available to users in every market where the app operates. In fact, this is an optional feature, where it is unusual for companies to withhold privacy features for legal and regulatory reasons.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that WhatsApp is the first global messaging service at this scale to offer end-to-end encrypted messaging and backup.

Further, WhatsApp will offer users two ways to encrypt their cloud backups. Users will see an option to generate a 64-digit encryption key to protect their chat backups in the cloud.

They can also store encryption keys offline or in a password manager of their choice, or they can generate passwords that back up their encryption keys in the cloud-based backup key vault that WhatsApp has developed. The encryption keys stored in the cloud cannot be used without the user's password, which WhatsApp does not know.