After introducing end-to-end encryption in mobile chats last year, WhatsApp has quietly added new security features to its iCloud backup feature.
\nThe iCloud backup encryption has been a feature for some time but it has come out in the open only now, Forbes reported on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The messages and chats in iCloud backups are uploaded on Apple servers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout any fanfare, it added a unique encryption key created by the WhatsApp app, rather than just relying on the iCloud Drive to protect customer data,\u201d the report added.<\/p>\n
This comes on top of the end-to-end encryption rolled out for one billion WhatsApp users on mobile platforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a user backs up their chats through WhatsApp to iCloud, the backup files are sent encrypted,\u201d a WhatsApp spokesperson was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
But one Russia-based security company called Oxygen Forensics has claimed to circumvent the encryption.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what Oxygen does is download data backed up by WhatsApp, and they then require a SIM-card with the same number as the user so they can receive the verification code. They can then generate the key and decrypt downloaded data,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
What this means is that government officials with access to a SIM card can potentially use it to still gain access to encrypted messages stored in iCloud.<\/p>\n
WhatsApp rolled out the encryption to all of its platforms and users in April last year.<\/p>\n
IANS\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Picture source: Alamy image<\/strong><\/p>\n Picture used for illustrative purposes alone<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After introducing end-to-end encryption in mobile chats last year, WhatsApp has quietly added new security features to its iCloud backup feature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31,49],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4190"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4192,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4190\/revisions\/4192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kt10.khaleejtimes.ae\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}