Many of us cannot remember a time when we didn’t have WhatsApp. And
many of us shudder to think of life without it. What we never seem worry
about is the chatting we do on WhatsApp. Every letter you type or every
image you share is data and until now it was not absolutely secure.
Your chats can be spied on, data stolen and used for any number of
purposes.
256 bit encryption on WhatsApp
Some of you may have received a message stating that messages you
send to a contact are now secured with end-to-end encryption. What this
basically means is that WhatsApp has moved to 256 Bit Encryption and the
update has reached your phone.
What 256 bit encryption means
If you select a contact and activate this level of encryption, then
anything that is transmitted between you and this contact is 100%
private, and apparently no amount of hacking can get into it (s0 far).
No third party, not ISPs, Telecom Service Providers, not even WhatsApp
can get into it.
Not all or nothing
The interesting thing about this update is that it can be activated
for only some contacts, if you should so choose, and leave some contacts
out of it. Scanning a specific QR code or typing in a 60 digit number
key will do the trick. So you should start planning who you will pick
for total privacy.
Legal ramifications
As per the quaint laws that govern the DoT, any encryption beyond
40-bit would require to be approved and needs proper permits and
certificates. So this new update may just turn out to be illegal. There
still is some light at the end of the tunnel though, because this 40-bit
law actually applies to ISPs and WhatsApp doesn’t clearly fall into
that category.
Now we wait to see what happens because we hear that the DoT maybe
looking at changing or updating some of it’s rules just for WhatsApp.
கருத்துரையிடுக Facebook Disqus