Hackers could be reading your WhatsApp chats – but huge new update will stop them
WHATSAPP is reportedly planning a huge new update that will make its two billion users even more secure.
Until this update is available, your messages probably aren't as secure as you might think.
However, reported that too major changes are being trialled in the beta version of the app and may be rolled out soon.
The first change will apparently enable "the encryption for your chat history hosted on iCloud".
This is good news for iPhone users who may not realise that when their WhatsApp chats back up to iCloud they're not protected by WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption.
The fact that this doesn't already happen is a vulnerability that has been exposed before.
Currently, if you back up an iPhone with WhatsApp chats stored on an iCloud the chats become decrypted without a password being required on WhatsApp.
This could enable cybercriminals who have hacked an iCloud to then see those chats.
The second new feature that could be coming soon has also been long awaited.
WhatsApp is said to be working on a personal QR code that can load your WhatsApp contact details into another phone.
This reportedly aims to be available for both iOS and Android users and will make saving contacts much easier.
Instead of sharing phone numbers, users could share and also revoke specific codes.
This would go someone in severing WhatsApp's connection to phone numbers and specific smartphones.
There's no need to get excited just yet though as we don't know when or if these features will be rolled out in the mainstream.
WhatsApp – a quick history
Here's what you need to know...
- WhatsApp was created in 2009 by computer programmers Brian Acton and Jan Koum - former employees of Yahoo
- It's one of the most popular messaging services in the world
- Koum came up with the name WhatsApp because it sounded like "what's up"
- After a number of tweaks the app was released with a messaging component in June 2009, with 250,000 active users
- It was originally free but switched to a paid service to avoid growing too fast. Then in 2016, it became free again for all users
- Facebook bought WhatsApp Inc in February 2014 for $19.3billion (£14.64bn)
- The app is particularly popular because all messages are encrypted during transit, shutting out snoopers
- WhatsApp has over 2billion users globally
Most read in Phones & Gadgets
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