Facebook's WhatsApp Adds 'End-To-End' Encryption, Protects Users From Snooping Governments

Amid the ongoing battle between tech companies and the governments, WhatsApp has added an "end-to-end" encryption to all of its messages. The Facebook-acquired messaging platform's move will inhibit the governments from getting information from the users.

Encryption has spawned to several public debates between the tech companies and the governments but the disagreements didn't hinder WhatsApp to add an end-to-end encryption to all of its messages. According to Independent, the app's latest version will use a security technology that can't be intercepted when messages travel from the sender to its recipient.

"WhatsApp has always prioritized making your data and communication as secure as possible," WhatsApp said in a statement. "And today, we're proud to announce that we've completed a technological development that makes WhatsApp a leader in protecting your private communication: full end-to-end encryption."

WhatsApp also added that through the latest version of the app, "every call you make and every message, photo, video, file, and voice message you send" will be "end-to-end encrypted by default." Aside from private messages, group chats will also be encrypted.

WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption came a few weeks after Apple Inc.'s legal battle with the U.S government. The government filed a lawsuit against the tech giant compelling it to assist the authorities in the San Bernardino mass-shooting case investigation in December.

The lawsuit, however, was dropped by the government last month after the Justice Department found a way to unlock an iPhone used by the mass-shooting suspect Syed Rizwan Farook without Apple's help. Based on the court documents, a third party was enlisted by the FBI to successfully break Apple's encryption, Engadget reports.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption to every form of communication on its service was revealed by its enigmatic founders Brian Acton and Jan Koum, together with Moxie Marlinspike, a high-minded coder and cryptographer. According to Acton, the encryption will allow anyone to "conduct business or talk" to people "without worrying about eavesdroppers," Wired notes.

"Building secure products actually makes for a safer world, (though) many people in law enforcement may not agree with that," Acton said.

The FBI and the U.S. Justice Department has refused to comment about WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption. WhatsApp, on the other hand, declined to discuss any particular wiretap orders.