WhatsApps new encryption feature will soon support group chat and media messages. Photograph: LIONEL BONAVENTURE\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
More than 600 million WhatsApp users are about to benefit from default end-to-end encryption, which should prevent any snoops spying on their communications. <\/p>\n
The security boost comes after the Facebook-owned messaging provider contracted Open Whisper Systems, the creator of the TextSecure encrypted text app, to incorporate its technology into WhatsApp. <\/p>\n
The new feature is currently only available in the Android version of WhatsApp, but Open Whisper Systems co-founder Moxie Marlinspike confirmed to the Guardian an iOS alternative was in the works. There will soon be support for encrypted messaging for group chat and media messages, too. <\/p>\n
Systems that use end-to-end encryption are hard to break because the key that unscrambles communicationsis only stored on users phones. In previous versions of WhatsApp, those keys were also stored by servers as well as users phones, giving Facebook or WhatsApp admins access to messages. <\/p>\n
The TextSecure encryption protocol is particularly strong as it uses a form of whats known as forward secrecy, which means a fresh key is created for every message sent. <\/p>\n
In a blog post, the Open Whisper Systems team said the WhatsApp project represents the largest deployment of end-to-end encrypted communication in history. <\/p>\n
The only other comparable service deployed on such a massive scale is Apples iMessage, which has one notable weakness, in that many people back up messages to Apples iCloud service, where data isnt protected as efficiently. <\/p>\n
Though it has just created a rival, Open Whisper Systems will continues to work on its own products, which include RedPhone for Android for encrypted voice communications and the iOS Signal apps that do protected calls and messaging. <\/p>\n
Marlinspike and his colleagues want to make encryption the default on all devices. Were more excited about our own apps than ever. Well continue to use TextSecure as a place to advance the state of the art, and hopefully incorporate those gains into third-party products as they progress, like weve done here, he said. <\/p>\n
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