We take no issue with the way this encryption is performed. In crypto parlance, these guarantees are termed end-to-end encryption, authenticity, and forward secrecy. This gives a high assurance that messages between you and your contacts are encrypted such that even WhatsApp can’t read them, that your contacts' identities can be verified, and that even if someone steals your encryption keys and is able to tap your connection, they can’t decrypt messages you’ve already sent. Under the hood, WhatsApp uses the best-in-breed for encrypted messaging: the Signal Protocol. This is unfortunate precisely because of WhatsApp's security strengths. This is especially true since WhatsApp’s announcement that it would be changing their user agreement regarding data sharing with the rest of Facebook’s services. In the case of WhatsApp, it is getting harder and harder to adequately explain its pitfalls in a way that is clear, understandable, and actionable for users. In Surveillance Self Defense (SSD), we aim to highlight reliable technologies while adding caveats to explain how their various strengths and weaknesses affect user privacy and security.

No technology is 100 percent secure for every user, and there are always trade-offs among security, usability, and other considerations. UPDATE (1/26/17): In response to news about WhatsApp's key management choices, we have added additional information about related trade-offs under 'Key change notifications.'Īfter careful consideration, we have decided to add additional warnings and caveats about using WhatsApp to our Surveillance Self Defense guide.

Why is whatsapp safe