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WhatsApp is a popular messenger service that was bought by Facebook in 2014. For the new year, 2021 WhatsApp changed its terms and conditions, in which the sharing of data with Facebook is now inevitable. And yet WhatsApp remains one of the most popular messenger services in Germany, especially among 16-24 year olds.
But how safe is WhatsApp really? And what can I do to communicate more securely? Everything about security, transparency and data storage on WhatsApp can be found here:
Safety
WhatsApp has been offering end-to-end
encryption for its users since 2016 . End-to-end
encryption means that the messages are encrypted at the sender and are only
successfully decrypted again at the recipient.
The encryption algorithm is based on the signal protocol and can therefore be
checked, in contrast to Telegram. End-to-end encryption ensures that only
the sender and recipient receive the message (s). But be careful, because
the chat messages are only secured if both parties have the latest version.
However, WhatsApp also has less pleasant security features: This is what metadata is like(like the location and
when you send certain messages to someone) saved by WhatsApp and forwarded
directly to Facebook. By collecting metadata, we reveal a lot about
ourselves as a person, for example one can conclude that if someone replies
quickly and even late at night to a person's messages, they are probably very
close to us. The collection of this data is called “profiling” .
Because when an app is
free, the user is always the product. This is
also the case with WhatsApp: We voluntarily disclose our data and WhatsApp, and
thus Facebook, makes a profit with it. If you want to find out more, you
should watch the documentary "The Dilemma with Social Media".
Data
Storage & Transparency
Back to WhatsApp, in addition to the metadata, WhatsApp also
saves the complete contact
book of a user and also the chat content in the form of a backup . According to the terms and
conditions, the user should obtain consent from every contact to share their
data with WhatsApp. Hardly anyone does this, however. Even if the
chat messages are not saved, they are still (together with all metadata and all
of its contacts) in the form of a backup on American WhatsApp servers.
You should also be aware that all your data is on American serverslie where American law exists
and American data protection laws apply, which are not comparable with German
data protection laws.
However, WhatsApp has one positive feature in relation to its encryption
protocol: WhatsApp uses a well-known encryption algorithm, the Signal Protocol,
which is an open-source protocol and is considered to be very secure. It
was developed by international security experts and is also used in the Signal
messenger app. You can find more information about the signal protocol here in a blog article by Boxcryptor.
3 Tips to Make Exchanges with WhatsApp More Secure:
- 1. Keep the App Up To Date
Sounds simple - and it is. As soon as updates arrive, it's easy to update.
- 2. Avoid Chat
Backup
Chat backups are outsourced from Whatsapp to external clouds such as Google. Conversely,
this means that end-to-end encryption is completely eliminated. So if a
backup is not absolutely necessary, then ideally do not make use of it.
- 3. Activate the
Security Number
Never heard of a security number? No problem! Every user has their
own security number on WhatsApp. If you activate the setting, you will be
shown as soon as the security number of one of your contacts changes. In
this way you protect yourself from so-called “man-in-the-middle attacks”, i.e.
a third unauthorized person between you and the (actual) recipient.
Conclusion
In summary, it can be said that WhatsApp as a messenger service
should be classified as "unsafe" for various reasons. Although
chat messages are encrypted, metadata, the contact book and the chat backup are
saved by Whatsapp and the data is processed (including with Facebook).
If you don't want to pass on your data to Facebook, you should look for another
secure messenger service (such as Signal or Threema).
Find Free Antivirus Software to Protect Your Data from Phishing Attacks
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