Highlights
- new feature of whatsapp
- Now the company will give the key to the users
- Chat backup will be done with end-to-end encryption
Know about the new feature of WhatsApp:
WhatsApp chats were always E2E encrypted. This means that only the sender and receiver of messages can read them. However, chats that you automatically backed up to Google Drive or Apple iCloud were not encrypted. Therefore, any third party could spy on these backup files to read your messages. But now WhatsApp is changing that and is now expanding the encryption to chat backup as well.
How is WhatsApp securing chat backup on Google Drive and Apple iCloud?
In its official blog post, WhatsApp has revealed that WhatsApp has created a new mechanism for encryption key storage to enable E2E backup. It works with both iOS and Android. With E2E Backup enabled, the backup will be encrypted with a unique, randomly generated key. People can choose to either protect the key manually or through a user password. When one opts for a password, the key is stored in a backup key vault which is built on the basis of a component called Hardware Security Module (HSM).
How to access encrypted WhatsApp chat backup:
According to WhatsApp, when the account user wants to access his backup, he can access his encryption key with Vault. Users can use their personal password to retrieve their encryption keys and decrypt their backups from the HSM-based Backup Key Vault.
What is HSM Key and how secure is it:
WhatsApp claims that the HSM-based Backup Key Vault will serve to implement password verification efforts. Also, after a limited number of unsuccessful attempts to access it, the key will be closed permanently. WhatsApp will only know that a key is present in the HSM. What is this key, this company itself will not be able to know.
How is chat backup secure?
Chat backup can be encrypted end-to-end using a 64-digit encryption key. Backups can also be password protected. In this case the encryption key is saved in the HSM based Backup Key Vault.
How to view and retrieve your old WhatsApp chat backups:
- To access your chat backup again, you need to follow these steps.
- You will need to enter your password which is encrypted. After this, it has to be verified with Backup Key Vault.
- Once it is verified, the backup will send the Key Vault back to the WhatsApp client.
- When the user has the key, he will be able to decrypt his backup.