WhatsApp has announced it will give its two billion users the option to upload their chat backups to Apple's iCloud using password-protected encryptio

WhatsApp to Let Users Encrypt Chat Backups Uploaded to iCloud

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2021-09-11 16:30:04

WhatsApp has announced it will give its two billion users the option to upload their chat backups to Apple's iCloud using password-protected encryption.

Currently, WhatsApp on iPhone lets users back up their chat history to ‌‌iCloud‌‌, but messages and media that users back up aren't protected by WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption while in ‌‌Apple's cloud servers‌.

Given that Apple holds the encryption keys for ‌iCloud‌, a subpoena of Apple or an unauthorized ‌iCloud‌ hack could potentially allow access to WhatsApp messages backed up there. Apple was reportedly pressured to not add encryption to ‌iCloud‌ Backups after the FBI complained.

The upcoming WhatsApp feature will resolve that security vulnerability by allowing users to encrypt and password-protect their chat history before uploading it to Apple's cloud-based platform. WhatsApp began early work on the security feature back in March 2020.

The rollout will make backups secure in remote ‌iCloud‌ servers by making them unreadable without an encryption key. Encrypted backups will be optional, and users will be asked to save a 64-bit encryption key or create a password that is associated with the key.