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posted by
cmn32480
on Tuesday April 05 2016, @11:17PM
from the what-about-beginning-to-beginning dept.
from the what-about-beginning-to-beginning dept.
The title pretty much says it all. According to the report:
the service will encrypt all messages, phone calls, photos, and videos moving among [the devices].
Moxie Marlinspike is involved, so they have a chance of getting it right, and no one, even WhatsApp, will be able to know what you”re saying, texting, viewing, &c. (Unless, of course, your widget is running malware, or the opposition can get their mitts on it.)-: They claim this is available on nearly a billion devices—this is a really big deal.
takyon: Alternate links with no Wired paywall: TechCrunch, Washington Post, CNET, Reuters.
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WhatsApp Encrypts End-to-End in Latest Version
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by stormwyrm on Wednesday April 06 2016, @06:43AM
Your encryption algorithm will probably be crap, and if your adversaries get a hold of it they will rip it to shreds. It is always better to use an open algorithm that the international academic cryptographic community has been able to analyse and they have found has no serious flaws. I'd go with AES (Rijndael), Serpent, Twofish, or Blowfish. Hash-based encryption... *sigh* Hash algorithms are not designed to be resistant to, say, differential cryptanalysis, which is not an applicable attack against hashes. It may be "strong against quantum computers" but it probably has even bigger weaknesses that don't NEED a quantum computer to exploit!
Then there is the question of protocols. Secure protocols are very difficult, and I don't know if there is an open standard protocol out there that hasn't been corrupted by the interference of the TLAs. TLS has many weaknesses due in part to government meddling in the days of Crypto War I. Simplistic protocols for key exchange with UDP-based VPNs not designed by professional cryptographers have proved insecure time and time again.
People need interoperability when using cryptography, and the only way to do that is with standards. You're never going to talk to anyone unless you can convince other people to use your app too.
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.