In brief: WhatsApp'southward introduction of stop-to-end encryption (E2EE) will provide users with the power to secure their backed up message history stored in the cloud. This capability resolves a previously known security gap that potentially made user data available to unintended tertiary parties when storing cloud backups.

Over two billion WhatsApp users are set to receive a major security enhancement equally the app will now let users to encrypt cloud-based backups via end-to-end encryption (E2EE).

WhatsApp users have enjoyed knowing that their communications within the app were encrypted, ensuring letters were viewable only by senders and their indicated recipients. This protection ceased, however, whatsoever fourth dimension a messaging session was backed upwards to a cloud-based fill-in location such as Apple tree's iCloud or Android's Google Drive. This lack of encryption on the backed-upwardly messages created a security loophole exploitable by parties ranging from police enforcement agencies to unintended malicious third parties.

The new E2EE functionality will ensure that these backups are no longer viewable by anyone, including WhatsApp or the hosting provider, that does not possess the required key. Once received, merely the intended recipient tin can decrypt a transmitted message past using the private cardinal, besides known equally the decryption key.

The newly bachelor encryption functionality is a big step frontward in ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of WhatsApp backup information transmitted and stored in the cloud.

While the new functionality does provide enhanced security for WhatsApp users and their data, it does non provide complete and total anonymity. Metadata information such equally dates, times, senders, and receivers are still retrievable from the message. While this may not provide the content of the message to an unintended third party, it can provide some indication of the subject field matter and urgency of the message. The encryption too does nothing to gainsay other security vulnerabilities such every bit compromised receiver endpoints and unencrypted intermediary servers encountered in transit.

WhatsApp will deploy the new E2EE solution to users over the next several weeks. Once deployed, the backup key vault service volition exist replicated and distributed across multiple data centers to ensure service availability and back up for end users.