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WhatsApp Vulnerability Allows Snooping on Encrypted Messages

Accepted submission by mrpg http://reversethis-{gro.swentnelyos} {ta} {gprm} at 2017-01-15 01:52:01
Security

A security vulnerability that can be used to allow Facebook and others to intercept and read encrypted messages has been found within its WhatsApp messaging service.

Facebook claims that no one can intercept WhatsApp messages, not even the company and its staff, ensuring privacy for its billion-plus users. But new research shows that the company could in fact read messages due to the way WhatsApp has implemented its end-to-end encryption protocol.

Privacy campaigners said the vulnerability is a “huge threat to freedom of speech” and warned it could be used by government agencies as a backdoor to snoop on users who believe their messages to be secure.

Source: WhatsApp vulnerability allows snooping on encrypted messages [theguardian.com]

also at arstechnica: Reported “backdoor” in WhatsApp is in fact a feature, defenders say [arstechnica.com]


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