WhatsApp ups security with message encryption

THE social messaging platform is proving it cares about its 600 million users' privacy.
It has partnered with Open Whisper Systems to build end-to-end encryption into its messaging service. The new feature, first reported by The Verge, means that, like Apple's iMessage, messages can only be opened and read by the recipient. Not even WhatsApp would be able to unencrypt a message if it was forced to do so. Most impressively, the new secure mode will be the default setting in the app.
Earlier this month, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) published a secure messaging league table, rating 39 services -- from iMessage and WhatsApp to Skype, BBM and Facebook Messenger -- on a number of key security criteria.
Of the 39 apps and tools it tested, only six, all of which were devoted to secure communication, passed each of the EFF's seven tests with flying colours. They were CryptoCat, ChatSecure, Signal/RedPhone, Silent Phone, Silent Text and TextSecure.
Of their mainstream alternatives, iMessage and its video counterpart FaceTime came top while the not-for-profit organisation drew specific attention to AIM, BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, Google Chat and Hangouts, Skype, Secret, SnapChat and Yahoo Messenger for failing to offer end-to-end encryption, meaning that messages sent or received were no more secure than basic email.
It may seem that WhatsApp has clearly taken the criticism seriously; after all, Open Whisper Systems, its partner in the new feature, is the company behind the Signal, RedPhone and TextSecure messaging apps, all of which scored full marks in the EFF's tests.
But the truth is that the two companies had been working on adding end-to-end encryption to the WhatsApp platform for over six months before the EFF's research was published.
The new feature is incorporated into the latest edition of the Android version of WhatsApp but is yet to be integrated into the iOS version. Still iPhone users can use iMessage while they're waiting. – AFP Relaxnews