WhatsApp users will be able to protect chat backups with a password
It became known that the developers of WhatsApp are planning to add a new function to the popular messenger that will allow password protection of chat backups, making them available only to one user. According to reports, work on this tool’s implementation began last year, and now images have appeared on the Internet demonstrating how this function might look in versions of WhatsApp for devices based on Android and iOS.
Published images suggest that users will be able to use a password of at least eight characters to protect their backups from unauthorized access by anyone. The same password is required if you need to restore data from a backup. The source also warns that if the user forgets the password from the backup, WhatsApp will not help with its recovery.
While WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted so that only the sender and recipient can see messages, this does not apply to backups stored in iCloud or Google Drive. When the backup is transferred to the cloud, the service provider is responsible for its safety, which has the ability to use it. Password-protecting a backup copy will theoretically prevent, or at least reduce the likelihood, that users’ data will be used without their knowledge. WhatsApp officials declined to comment on the feature.
