According to a new report, WhatsApp is still working on a way to secure chat backups in iCloud with password-protected encryption.
The Facebook-owned messenger platform started working on the special security feature in March 2020 – the reported WABetaInfo. Currently, WhatsApp users on iPhone can back up their chat history to iCloud. However, messages and media that users back up are not protected by WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption while in iCloud.
WhatsApp Backup: “Prevent unauthorized access”
As a reminder, Apple has the "encryption keys" for iCloud and makes the backed up data available to the authorities when requested by order, as stated in the semi-annual transparency reports. Accordingly, the WhatsApp backups in question are also visible as a result. The new WhatsApp feature would prevent exactly that and give users the option of separately encrypting the chat backup and adding a password before it is uploaded to iCloud. According to the leak, WhatsApp describes the function as follows:
To prevent unauthorized access to your iCloud Drive backup, you can set a password that will be used to encrypt future backups. This password will be required when you restore from the backup.
When activating the feature, the user confirms their phone number and selects a password that is at least eight characters long. A warning message then appears:
WhatsApp will not be able to help recover forgotten passwords.
It is not yet known when the new security function will be officially available. What is clear, however, is that such a feature is definitely being planned. (Photo by yalcin.sonat / Bigstockphoto)
