WhatsApp just got a whole lot more secure after rolling out full encryption to all its users. All the text, photos and calls you make are now fully encrypted and can only be read by the recipient, which means that it’s practically impossible for the authorities to intercept messages and access the content of Whatsapp users’ messages.
If you still didn’t receive the notification shown above, then you probably need to update your Whatsapp version to be the latest. The end-to-end encryption also applies Windows Phone and Blackberry. More importantly, you will be able to detect a user running an older version and not supporting encrypted messages as Whatsapp will notify you if the messages are secure or not.
I’m not sure if the Apple-FBI case or the #Panamapapers data breach triggered this move by Whatsapp but I support any move that protects our privacy and keeps our conversations outside the purview of authorities.
Not everyone is as well-meaning as you are, and unfortunately not everyone in authority is as well-meaning as it should be. Some people are really mean, and this applies to those in power and to those who are not. It’s a vicious circle. Reaching a balanced view is almost impossible. At the end of the day, the world state of affairs will decide which side is going to succumb to the other. And I don’t feel optimistic.
I was following the partnership with OpenWhisper, the company that helped them implement the end to end encryption, 3 years ago.
It was a smart move to release the encryption because of that: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/03/next-front-new-crypto-wars-whatsapp , which happened as a consequence of the San Bernardino case.
Let’s also note that this change was already happening in the background throughout the last 3 years.
At first the encryption was only between Android devices, they then ported it to other platforms. So basically, if you have been communicating with Android devices only that had the newest version of whatsapp your chats were already going through this encryption process 3 years ago.
Moxie Marlinspike (the guy behind OpenWhisper) is a legend in the security field.