Has London terror attack put WhatsApp's encryption service in the dock?

The brazen terror attack on British parliament has once again fulled the debate on encrypted messaging.

New Delhi: Following the brazen terror attack on British parliament, Police are investigating whether Masood, who killed four people outside Britain's Parliament, used the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp moments before driving across Westminster Bridge on high speed mowing down pedestrians.

A message was reportedly sent from Masood's phone two minutes before the attack.

It is under these circumstances that the ongoing debate on whether Encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp must make their platforms accessible to intelligence agencies keep coming up very often.

And it is also in these situations that it becomes increasingly difficult to choose between privacy and security as a whole.

A report in the Times of India explains that encrypted services offered by Whatsapp does not store messages on their servers. Hence it is not possible for them to read the messages.

“It would not help if it starts unencrypting messages; it'd have to change its systems,” the TOI report says.

The TOI report however adds that companies swear by encryption because , leaks around the world show that even the most closely guarded systems can be hacked. “Unencryption, or backdoor keys, to their systems exposes companies to hacking attempts and puts user data at serious risk,” it said.

“Experts say even if encryption was banned for WhatsApp, those with nefarious intent would obtain encryption products from elsewhere,” TOI added.