In their blog, WhatsApp co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton wrote, "WhatsApp has always prioritized making your data and communication as secure as possible. And today, we're proud to announce that we've completed a technological development that makes WhatsApp a leader in protecting your private communication: full end-to-end encryption. From now on when you and your contacts use the latest version of the app, every call you make, and every message, photo, video, file, and voice message you send, is end-to-end encrypted by default, including group chats."
The duo said that they wanted to provide a face-to-face interaction to the users, disabling others to read the messages, as under the new development only the person intended to read the texts can do so.
"The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to. No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us. End-to-end encryption helps make communication via WhatsApp private – sort of like a face-to-face conversation," the blog read.
"If you're using the latest version of WhatsApp, you don't have to do a thing to encrypt your messages: end-to-end encryption is on by default and all the time," they wrote.
The duo also spoke about how vulnerable the digital world is becoming and said that encryption is one way to stop unwanted people from accessing data.
"We live in a world where more of our data is digitized than ever before. Every day we see stories about sensitive records being improperly accessed or stolen. And if nothing is done, more of people's digital information and communication will be vulnerable to attack in the years to come. Fortunately, end-to-end encryption protects us from these vulnerabilities," the co-founders wrote.
They also said that they are hopeful that more of this development will take place across all communication app in the future.
"While WhatsApp is among the few communication platforms to build full end-to-end encryption that is on by default for everything you do, we expect that it will ultimately represent the future of personal communication."
"The desire to protect people's private communication is one of the core beliefs we have at WhatsApp, and for me, it's personal. I grew up in the USSR during communist rule and the fact that people couldn't speak freely is one of the reasons my family moved to the United States," the blog read.
Declaring WhatsApp as a secure platform, they said, "Today more than a billion people are using WhatsApp to stay in touch with their friends and family all over the world. And now, every single one of those people can talk freely and securely on WhatsApp."
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