WhatsApp users alert! Hackers can access chats using THIS flaw, check how to secure messages

WhatsApp secures our personal chats via end-to-end encryption, which ensures that only the sender and the receiver get access to the messages.

New Delhi: WhatsApp is undoubtedly the most popular messaging platform in the world. While the app promises to offer end-to-end encryption for chats, a cybersecurity researcher has pointed out that hackers could steal get access to our personal chats and media via cloud backups. 

For those uninitiated, WhatsApp secures our personal chats with our contacts via end-to-end encryption, which ensures that only the sender and the receiver get access to the messages and the media shared between them.  

However, now a security expert has raised questions over the handling of WhatsApp chat backups that are stored on the cloud without end-to-end encryption. Malicious actors can hack into our Google accounts to get access to your personal chats and media, according to the expert quoted in a report by The Mirror. 

But this isn’t the first time when a security expert has raised questions over the safety of cloud backups. However, you can secure your chats by using the disappearing messages option. These messages disappear after a time period and doesn’t get stored over cloud backups. 

In a bid to make WhatsApp a secure platform, the firm is now reportedly working to bring end-to-end encryption to cloud backups as well. In a tweet, WABetaInfo said, “WhatsApp is also working to bring end-to-end encrypted LOCAL backups on WhatsApp beta for Android! They were working on E2EE backups on Google Drive, but they will extend the feature for local backups as well. This feature will be available in a future update.” Also Read: How to verify your email address, mobile number on Aadhaar Card

WABetaInfo had first spotted the end-to-end encryption feature in the testing. WhatsApp will reportedly provide users with a passphrase to unlock the backups. In case, users forget their paraphrase, that they can use a 64-digit recovery key to get access to the backup. Also Read: Pegasus row: Allegations serious if media reports are correct, says Supreme Court