Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

WhatsApp blocks hackers with end-to-end encryption for Android app

Malarie Gokey
By

fake whatsapp
Twin Design / Shuttershock
Most mainstream messaging apps barely have any encryption at all, making users’ messages vulnerable to hackers, surveillance programs like the NSA, and other threats. WhatsApp is one of the first messaging services to take a stand. The company quietly rolled out an update to its Android app that features end-to-end encryption, the Verge reports. WhatsApp partnered with Open Whisper Systems to ensure that its users’ messages and personal info are as safe as can be.

Now that WhatsApp has end-to-end encryption, the company is unable to decrypt and pore over users’ messages, even if law enforcement demands to see them. The only two people in the entire world who will be able to see your WhatsApp messages, are the person with whom you are conversing, and others who have access to your phone. WhatsApp took a page out of TextSecure’s book and reworked the code developed by Open Whisper Systems to cover its millions of users.

Recommended Videos

It’s a huge step forward for WhatsApp and the company’s decision to add encryption could very well inspire others to follow suit. Although a handful of other messaging apps, such as Cryptocat, Silent Text, and Telegram offer end-to-end encryption, too, most of them have small user bases. WhatsApp has 600 million users, making it one of the most popular messaging apps around. Of course, WhatsApp users on iOS don’t get the full benefit of encryption — yet. WhatsApp didn’t reveal a timetable for the release of end-to-end encryption for iOS.

Related

News of WhatsApp’s move toward full encryption comes hot of the heels of a recent report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), ProPublica, and the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy, which tested the most popular messaging apps and found the vast majority of them offer users little to no protection. The larger the apps, the worse the security, as Google Hangouts, BlackBerry Messenger, and Snapchat had some of the lowest scores. WhatsApp also scored poorly in the test, but it should fare better after this update.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Malarie Gokey
Malarie Gokey
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Mobile Editor, Malarie runs the Mobile and Wearables sections, which cover smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and…
How to use Google’s Gemini AI app on your Android phone
How to use Gemini on your Android.based device.

Google's collaboration AI tool, Bard, has changed its name and is now known as Gemini. The tool is also now available as an app on the Google Play Store, meaning it's easier than ever to chat with Google's AI assistant on your Android phone.

Read more
Google is launching a powerful new AI app for your Android phone
Google Gemini app on Android.

Remember Bard, Google’s answer to ChatGPT? Well, it is now officially called Gemini. Also, all those fancy AI features that previously went by the name Duet AI have been folded under the Gemini branding. In case you haven’t been following up all the AI development flood, the name is derived from the multi-modal large language model of the same name.

To go with the renaming efforts, Google has launched a standalone Gemini app on Android. Moreover, the Gemini experience is also being made available to iPhone users within the Google app on iOS. But wait, there’s more.

Read more
If you have one of these apps on your Android phone, delete it immediately
The app drawer on the Google Pixel 8 Pro.

The NSO Group raised security alarms this week, and once again, it’s the devastatingly powerful Pegasus malware that was deployed in Jordan to spy on journalists and activists. While that’s a high-profile case that entailed Apple filing a lawsuit against NSO Group, there’s a whole world of seemingly innocuous Android apps that are harvesting sensitive data from an average person’s phone.
The security experts at ESET have spotted at least 12 Android apps, most of which are disguised as chat apps, that actually plant a Trojan on the phone and then steal details such as call logs and messages, remotely gain control of the camera, and even extract chat details from end-to-end encrypted platforms such as WhatsApp.
The apps in question are YohooTalk, TikTalk, Privee Talk, MeetMe, Nidus, GlowChat, Let’s Chat, Quick Chat, Rafaqat, Chit Chat, Hello Chat, and Wave Chat. Needless to say, if you have any of these apps installed on your devices, delete them immediately.
Notably, six of these apps were available on the Google Play Store, raising the risk stakes as users flock here, putting their faith in the security protocols put in place by Google. A remote access trojan (RAT) named Vajra Spy is at the center of these app's espionage activities.

A chat app doing serious damage

Read more