WhatsApp's success is based on its ease of use, to send written or voice messages to one or more interlocutors or simply to make calls. Working with the Internet, WhatsApp has particularly developed strongly in certain countries like Brazil, where telephone operator rates are high. The application also allows you to share photos, videos or even animated GIFs.
In its press release published on Wednesday, the company also insists a lot on one of its features, often invisible to its users: the default and end-to-end encryption of each message sent on WhatsApp.
“This sophisticated encryption acts as an unbreakable overseas chinese in canada data digital padlock that keeps the information you send through WhatsApp safe from hackers and criminals. Messages are stored only on your phone and no one can read them or listen to your calls, not even us.”
"We will not compromise"
Other popular messaging apps, such as Apple's iMessage, offer the same type of feature, but not all apps do. Messages sent on Facebook Messenger, for example, are not end-to-end encrypted by default.
If, when passing this very symbolic milestone, WhatsApp is keen to highlight this aspect of its service, it is in particular because, at the end of January, two independent experts from the United Nations suggested that Jeff Bezos' iPhone had been hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman , and this via WhatsApp. This information is likely to tarnish the image of the messaging service as a "secure" application, which believes for its part that the flaw used to spy on the billionaire was more likely to be found on Apple's side. Since the expert reports have not been made public, the explanation remains, for the time being, unknown.
Read also 5 questions about the hacking of Jeff Bezos' phone by Saudi Arabia
In addition, public authorities, particularly American ones, regularly threaten to force web giants to allow them exceptional access to the messages of users targeted by a procedure. However, these companies and the vast majority of computer security experts are shouting, creating a "back door" of this type would weaken the security of all users. "Strong encryption is a necessity of modern life ," WhatsApp reiterates in its press release. "We will not compromise on security, as this could expose our users to certain dangers."
