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After the blow to WhatsApp over privacy, news shows the company is working to increase the security of its cloud backups with a new password protection feature that encrypts chat backups, making them accessible only to the user.
WABetaInfo reported on the feature, which has been in development since last year, but today shared screenshots of how it has been featured in service apps on iOS and Android.
Password for encryption
One of the screenshots reads: You can set a password that is used to encrypt future backups to prevent unauthorized access to iCloud Drive backup.
According to the information, the application asks for the password when restoring from the backup, with the user being asked to confirm the phone number and choose a password consisting of at least eight characters.
Be careful to forget the password!
Another screenshot warns that WhatsApp will not be able to help recover forgotten passwords.
Although WhatsApp conversations are end-to-end encrypted, meaning they are only visible to the sender and recipient, the service warns that this protection does not extend to online backups stored through Google Drive and iCloud.
After accessing these servers, the responsibility for the security of the backups falls on the cloud service providers, who in the past made them accessible to law enforcement.
Reputation wash
Encrypting backups with a password that only the user knows prevents anyone from accessing chat history without authorization.
These recent reports of the feature come as WhatsApp’s reputation has been hit due to the new privacy policy, which has raised concerns that it may store more information with its parent company, Facebook.
Although WhatsApp insists that the new policy does not affect the security of users’ personal messages, competing messaging services, such as Signal and Telegram, have seen increasing interest as users explore other options. .
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