How to remove encryption in WhatsApp. What is and why do you need encryption in Whatsapp? Why encrypt messages and calls?
After the Snowden story, most sympathizing paranoids began to focus on the topic of encrypting data transmitted over the Internet with renewed vigor. Serious guys had already encrypted everything they needed before, so this topic passed them by. However, as it turned out, simple encryption not enough. It is necessary to provide so-called end-to-end encryption.
Everyone’s favorite instant messengers turned out to be especially vulnerable, where messages were either not encrypted at all, or were encrypted in a way that I will now describe. There is one encryption key, which is controlled by the messenger developer. Your message is encrypted using this key and sent to the messenger server, decrypted there, the message is recorded in history, encrypted again, sent to your interlocutor and decrypted there. This encryption scheme is not end-to-end and only protects against attackers between you and the messenger server. For example, if you are sitting somewhere in a cafe on free Wi-Fi, then it is useless to intercept your traffic because it is encrypted, but the attackers do not know the decryption key. The main disadvantage of this scheme is that your entire message history is available to intelligence agencies at almost any time upon request. In the civilized world, you are of no interest to the intelligence services: they have enough work to do without you. And in a not very civilized world, intelligence services can abuse their position, for example, help “their own” find out what they need about you.
End-to-end encryption is designed to help you get encrypted. In this case, only you and your interlocutor know the encryption key. Your message is encrypted with this key, sent to the messenger server, where it cannot be decrypted because the server does not know your key. The message goes to your interlocutor in transit unchanged and is decrypted by him. The disadvantage of the scheme is that the message history is stored only locally in the application. When you reinstall the application, the history is lost.
A couple of years ago, only Signal and maybe Wire had end-to-end encryption. All other messengers (Viber, Skype, WhatsApp, iMessage) were more or less unsafe. Of course, it was impossible to lag behind the trend. First, end-to-end encryption appeared in Viber, and then in WhatsApp. Telegram has also been added to these two.
Skype belongs to Microsoft, which, in turn, never refuses to the intelligence services, and they did not introduce anything additional. The picture is somewhat better with iMessage, which belongs to Apple.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has compiled and periodically updates messenger security rating. So, for example, WhatsApp and Telegram can be considered conditionally safe among the popular chat rooms.
The convention is that popular instant messengers are commercial products with closed source code, which means no one will be able to check the presence or absence of specially provided loopholes. Therefore, if you expect a good level of security here, then you need to blindly trust the developers of these messengers. As it turned out recently, it was in vain.
The developers of the Facebook-owned WhatsApp messenger, who insisted that it was impossible for unauthorized persons to read user correspondence, actually provided a loophole that allows them to intercept any messages. According to independent cryptography expert Tobias Belter from the University of California at Berkeley, this possibility is provided by WhatsApp's own implementation of the encryption protocol.
WhatsApp's encryption system is based on generating unique security keys. The authenticity of the keys is verified on the users' side, which ensures that messages cannot be intercepted by third parties. However, the messenger developers have provided a backdoor that allows you to forcibly create new key, re-encrypt and send the message. Thanks to its re-encryption and relay mechanism, Belter said, WhatsApp can intercept and read messages without the recipient or sender knowing. According to Belter, he notified Facebook about the backdoor in the spring of 2016, but company representatives said that this was not a mistake, but that it was intended.
A perfect example of how all this end-to-end encryption is nothing more than a fashionable trend.
If you need encryption in action and not in words, you need to use non-commercial open source messengers. For example, Signal or Pidgin. Yes, they are not as convenient as Viber or WhatsApp, and the interface is a little awkward and crooked. But it's safe.
Messages you send to this chat and your calls are now protected by encryption. This way WhatsApp and third parties do not have access to them. Many people saw this window WhatsApp users recently, including me.
What does this mean for us? Now communication via WhatsApp, thanks to end-to-end encryption, has become more secure for users.
How does WhatsApp encryption work?
Whatsapp encryption works as end-to-end encryption, i.e. no one, including those in the company itself, will be able to read any content in chats, both between users and in group conversations. Everything is encrypted, including sent messages, photo and video materials, voice messages. In addition, encryption is also enabled for voice calls.
The first popular messenger to introduce encryption was Pavel Durov’s product, Telegram. Its concept initially included secure communication. According to Durov, he was struck by the revelations of former US NSA employee Edward Snowden, who reported the total surveillance of the US government over its citizens, as well as citizens and leadership of other states.
How to enable message encryption in WhatsApp
You don't need to do anything special to enable encryption. It's already enabled by default for all users of this messenger. (and WhatsApp has about a billion of them). It is enough to update your version to the most current one. If one of the participants in a group conversation or chat does not have latest version, then encryption will be disabled.
You can find out if the latter is worth it whatsapp version from your interlocutor by looking at his information.
When you see the image of a closed padlock, you can be sure that encryption is enabled for this contact. If the lock is open, it means it has not yet updated its version to the latest.
Is it possible to “hack” encrypted WhatsApp messages?
No one has yet proven otherwise.
It should be noted, what's under burglary This means interception of WhatsApp traffic by third parties - for example, intelligence agencies, your Internet provider, or an attacker in a cafe where you are using an open Wi-Fi access point.
Method reading other people's correspondence, described by me, uses social engineering, so it is still relevant. When your device falls into the wrong hands, then even the strongest encryption algorithm will not help. To protect yourself from it, set a password on your smartphone, or on the launch of a specific application.
Each of us wants his personal data, correspondence and other confidential information to be reliably protected. However, this is not always possible, since experienced hackers can hack almost any system and use the obtained data against you, as well as debit money from your accounts. The developers of the popular WhatsApp application are seriously concerned this problem and they took this issue seriously. So, in 2016, users of the application became available with the option WhatsApp encryption , designed to provide an increased level of security.
Whatsapp encryption: what is it?
Many Internet messenger users still don’t really understand what end-to-end encryption is. However, this is very useful feature, thanks to which your text and voice messages, photos, videos, music, documents and other information will not fall into the wrong hands and will not be used against you. Thus, the information will be available only to you and the person with whom you are corresponding. According to the developers, the level of protection is so high that even they cannot view your messages or listen to calls.
The principle of end-to-end encryption is as follows: each message you send is protected by a special lock, the key to which only the recipient has. Encryption occurs in automatic mode so you don't have to configure it yourself in manual mode. In this case, the encoding process takes place directly on your device, and not on the application service.
Important! This function Only available to those using the latest versions of the application. In more outdated versions it does not work, so the developers recommend installing updates as soon as possible, of course, if you do not want to become a victim of hackers.
How to remove end-to-end encryption in WhatsApp?
Many users experience quite logical question about whether it is possible to disable the encryption of personal data in WhatsApp. At the moment, the developers do not consider such a function useful and appropriate, so it is not provided in the application. If for some reason you need to do this, then the only option is to rollback, that is, remove the updates and use more old version applications. At the same time, do not forget to uncheck the automatic update programs.
What is encryption in WhatsApp? This question has become popular recently due to the fact that on many smartphones in the messenger of the same name a window has appeared with the text: “The messages you send to this chat and calls are now protected by encryption. To learn more". This is due to the program update: the developer introduced a full data encryption system to ensure the security of its clients.
What is encryption on WhatsApp?
How does the protection of information inside the chat work after the innovation? Encryption - that is, reversible recoding of data - occurs using end-to-end encryption technology. This is end-to-end encryption of messages in WhatsApp, thanks to which no one, even employees of the development company, will be able to read absolutely nothing that is written in the chat. A conversation on WhatsApp is encrypted regardless of the number of participants: from two in a personal conversation to many in a group correspondence.
Thus, it is easy to answer the question of what it means on WhatsApp: “Messages and calls are protected by encryption.” There is nothing negative about this update. For the first time, such technology was used in the Telegram application. Pavel Durov, who owns this product, launched the updated version after learning from Edward Snowden's messages about the massive wiretapping of calls and viewing messages of US citizens by their own intelligence agencies. Durov considered it necessary to invent a method that would qualitatively increase the level of user protection, and launched the end-to-end encryption conversion.
It is important to note that in WhatsApp data encryption occurs at all levels: encryption is relevant not only for text, but also for all multimedia files: photos, music, videos. Moreover, a new version The utility even encrypts voice calls.
How to enable WhatsApp encryption
The message that encryption of WhatsApp correspondence is enabled did not appear for all users. Therefore, users who are familiar with the latest news in the world software, are wondering: how to encrypt a message on WhatsApp? How to configure this feature? In fact, no tricky manipulations are required. Anyone who has updated to the latest version has already enabled encryption. This means that the feature now works by default.
In June 2016, almost all smartphone users on Android and iPhone owners (operating system ios). But to make sure that end-to-end encryption is happening, it's worth checking your version. To do this, you need to go into the settings and make sure that the “Encryption” column appears there.
How to remove encryption in WhatsApp?
If for some reason the user wants to undo the re-encoding of his web data, he wonders how to disable encryption in WhatsApp. At this stage, this is impossible, since such a desire - to delete, turn off, remove recoding - in principle has no logical basis.
If it is vital for the user, the update can simply be canceled by rolling back the entire system. It is important not to forget to uncheck the auto-update option for this program so that history does not repeat itself.
How do I enable security notifications?
To do this you need:
So, the new final processing of information from the WhatsApp developers is a great way to make your smartphone more secure and protect yourself from web attacks aimed at monitoring personal information.
When we read descriptions and reviews of WhatsApp messenger, we constantly come across the term “end-to-end encryption”. They explain to us that this is an incredibly useful thing, thanks to which no one else can read our correspondence. It would be good to understand at least in general terms, without going into details, how this technology works.
Why WhatsApp encryption is needed
The answer to this question is generally obvious. Encryption allows you to protect your correspondence from prying eyes. Often people do not even realize how much sensitive personal information they send in personal communications through social networks and instant messengers. And here the excuse “I’m a simple person and of no interest to anyone” no longer works. Almost everyone has bank cards and with the right skill, scammers can leave you without money.
True, to do this, they need minimal information about you, which you yourself may accidentally reveal in personal correspondence. To prevent this from happening, encryption will be useful: even if hackers somehow gain access to the transmission line and traffic, they will not be able to read the correspondence.
What is end-to-end encryption
First, let's understand what exactly is encrypted when communicating on WhatsApp. Everything is simply encrypted:
- yours text messages, including emoticons;
- your phone calls;
- recording audio messages;
- all transferred files in any formats;
- photographs and videos.
That is, any traffic from your WhatsApp, no matter what device it is installed on, leaves already encrypted.
How does traffic encryption actually work? The specific details are most likely unknown, but there is a general principle.
WhatsApp installed on your smartphone or computer has a built-in cryptographic module. It has a unique key - a certain sequence of characters. No other WhatsApp in the whole world has such a key, they are all different. And this key consists of two parts - open and closed.
When you open a dialogue with your friend, your WhatsApp sends him the public part of his key. In return, your interlocutor receives the same public part of the key from your friend. From two parts (its own private part and the open part received from someone else), WhatsApp forms an encryption key. And all your further correspondence is encrypted using this key.
The question arises: what will happen if a hacker connects to the transmission line between two WhatsApp (for example, to Wi-Fi in a cafe) and intercepts the public part of the key? Will he be able to communicate with your friend on your behalf?
Answer: no, he can’t. Because it doesn't have the private part of the key. It remains on your smartphone and is not transferred anywhere. For the same reason, a hacker will not be able to pretend to be your friend.
This is how “public key cryptography” works. It allows two subscribers to establish secure communication while being far away from each other. Moreover, the public parts of the keys can be transmitted over unsecured lines, but the communication channel will still remain inaccessible to hackers.
Moreover, your correspondence is not available even to WhatsApp owners. For the same reason: encryption keys are located only in subscriber accounts, they are not on the messenger servers. That’s why the method is often called “end-to-end”, that is, “end-to-end encryption” - a secure channel, a kind of tunnel, is formed between end devices.
Why were they so slow with encryption?
This is not known for certain. We can only observe and draw certain conclusions.
Apparently, the company’s management did not want to release a completely secure messenger for a long time, simply because then many states could simply ban it. Times are turbulent now, and the intelligence services really want to know where and what crimes are being prepared, what terrorists are planning, and so on. If the messenger is completely protected from wiretapping, then law enforcement agencies will not have this information, and this is a security threat.
But one way or another, full traffic encryption was still enabled in the spring of 2016. Apparently, the user requirements turned out to be more significant. People themselves are usually interested in maintaining the privacy of their personal lives. After all, we are talking about at least the safety of your family and children. It is possible that WhatsApp introduced encryption because other messengers have enabled this function. Users could start moving to competitors - where it is safer.
Is it possible to turn off encryption?
No, this option is not provided. There is no setting that disables WhatsApp's cryptographic module. All traffic is forcibly encrypted.
There is no need for users to disable encryption - the process is transparent, happens very quickly and is completely invisible. That is, it is difficult to think of a reason why someone would want to turn off WhatsApp cryptography on their smartphone. If we talk about hackers, they also cannot do anything bad with a smartphone without your assistance.
Perhaps there are some viruses that, once on the device, replace the keys or somehow disable cryptography. To prevent this from happening, you just need to follow the simplest rules of Internet hygiene: do not open suspicious links, do not install incomprehensible programs, do not access the Internet in public places via free Wi-Fi, and so on.
What are the disadvantages of the current version of WhatsApp encryption?
The limitations of the end-to-end encryption method are an extension of its advantages. A unique encryption key is associated with each device on which WhatsApp is installed. We explained above why this is good. But on the other hand, this key cannot be transferred to another device. For example, to be able to communicate from two or three smartphones at the same time. That is, you can install WhatsApp with the same key on another phone. Only if you enter into a conversation with him, the session on the first phone ends immediately.
Although, this is not such a big inconvenience. After all, no one is stopping you from installing full copies of WhatsApp with your own keys on your second or third smartphone.