Whatsapp users don't need to worry about privacy, says Madius

KUALA LUMPUR: Whatsapp users need not worry about the privacy of their conversations on the platform being compromised by third parties.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Madius Tangau (pix) said the developer of the application has assured that information shared on the platform, including calls and videos would be classified by default.
"No one, except for the sender and receiver, can read the messages, provided that users are using the latest version of Whatsapp released in April this year.
"However, applications such as Telegram did not put an encryption by default. If there is no end-to-end encryption, the company could have access to any sent messages," he told the Dewan Rakyat during the Minister's Question Time.
He was responding to a question from Datuk Noor Azmi Ghazali (BN - Bagan Serai) who had asked the ministry on whether it was true that content in Whatsapp and Telegram applications could be downloaded and monitored by the system developer in the United States.
Madius however cautioned that the platform should not be used by government officials to disseminate classified documents concerning the country.
"To avoid information leakage, users need to ensure that the applications are up to date and protected for safer communications," he added.