WhatsApp will soon improve encryption options by allowing users to save encrypted messages as backups on Google Drive and iCloud, first unprecedented for Facebook owned companies.
The announcement was made on the Facebook page of Mark Zuckerberg itself. The Facebook CEO noted that “WhatsApp is the first global messaging service on this scale to offer messages and encrypted backup ends to the end,” while adding the technical challenges involved to make it happen is not a small achievement.
If all enter the plan, the end-to-end encryption solution must provide an extra security layer for WhatsApp users, which will soon be able to save their message to the cloud storage service of their choice.
Analysis: more security, fewer problems
Given the size of the whatsapp installation base compared to other messaging applications, similarly, additional encryption solutions like this are a must, especially when hundreds of billions of messages are shared every week. Now, whatsapp users often have an extra security layer for peace of mind.
Think of it as authentication of two factors, but protect encrypted message history rather than your account. The end result offers the same level of protection, only for different data types.
Previously, whatsapp users could back up their message history if they lost the phone, for example. However, users have not been able to back up encrypted messages safely on separate services until now, because cloud reserves will lose their encryption when uploaded to services.
Facebook has emphasized that it is not a company like Google or Apple (each Owner of Google Drive and iCloud) will be able to access the user’s encrypted file. This means that your message history will be your own and your own to back up and stay safe.
Facebook confirms that this storage feature will be optional, and will launch it to iOS and Android users in the coming weeks