Heena Sharma Blog

  The Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that WhatsApp was treating Indian users differently from its European ones with regard to opting out of its new privacy policy, and this was a matter of concern for the government which is looking into it. The central government told the high court that it was also a matter of concern that Indian users were being "unilaterally" subjected to the change in privacy policy by social networking platform WhatsApp. The submissions were made before Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva by Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma during hearing of a petition by a lawyer against the new privacypolicy of the social networking platform owned by Facebook. Duringthe hearing, Sharma told the court that by not giving Indian users the optionto opt out of sharing their data with other companies of Facebook, WhatsApp prima facie appears to be treating users with an "all or nothing approach". Read More

  As the debate rages over new WhatsApp data sharing policy , another Facebook family product called Messenger does not offer any end-to-end protection and is more prone to data breach, a security expert has claimed, adding that Messenger users should opt for safer apps first. According to cybersecurity specialist Zak Doffman, we should stop using Facebook Messenger as there is no proper protection of our messages, reports Forbes. WhatsApp emphasises that it cannot see your private messages, nor listen to your calls, and neither can Facebook. However, according to Doffman, if you are a Messenger user, you do not have the same data encryption. "In reality, the WhatsApp debacle has distracted attention away from just how bad Messenger's invasion of your privacy is. There is no justification for it," he wrote in the article. Read More  

  WhatsApp is one of the most commonly used instant messaging service, with a global user base of more than two billion. This Facebook-owned platform has around 400 million users in India, and that makes the country one of its biggest markets. Once a basic messaging platform, WhatsApp now supports video calling, file sharing, voice messages, etc, and boasts end-to-end encryption for privacy. One of WhatsApp’s key features is end-to-end encryption, which means the messages sent using WhatsApp are visible only to the sender and receiver of the message. On paper, WhatsApp seems to be a secure instant messaging platform with privacy at its core. However, the recent incidents where chat details of several Bollywood personalities have allegedly been leaked have brought back questions around WhatsApp’s privacy and security. Read More

A Rajya Sabha panel has recommended that law enforcement agencies should be permitted to break end-to-end encryption to trace the distributior of child pornography on social media. The ad hoc committee of the Rajya Sabha formed to look into pornography on social media and its effect on children and society has also recommended that apps that help in monitoring children's access to pornographic content be made mandatory on all devices sold in India, and such apps or similar solutions be developed and made freely available to internet service providers (ISPs), schools and parents. The 14-member committee, chaired by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, has made 40 recommendations in all, including changes to the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. The recommendations assume significance in view of the ongoing battle between the government and WhatsApp over encryption. The government has been looking for a way to trace messages to curb spread of rumours ...

Facebook has clearly told US Attorney General William Barr that the social networking giant will neither remove encryption from its messaging apps nor will provide law enforcement agencies access to its encrypted services. "As a company that supports 2.7 billion users around the world, it is our responsibility to use the very best technology available to protect their privacy. Encrypted messaging is the leading form of online communication and the vast majority of the billions of online messages that are sent daily, including on WhatsApp, iMessage, and Signal, are already protected with end-to-end encryption," said WhatsApp head Will Cathcart and Facebook Messenger's chief Stan Chudnovsky, in a letter to Barr on Tuesday. "The 'backdoor' access you are demanding for law enforcement would be a gift to criminals, hackers and repressive regimes, creating a way for them to enter our systems and leaving every person on our platforms more vulnerable to re...

WhatsApp on Thursday introduced fingerprint lock on supported Android phones to help users protect their chats from being seen by hackers, family members or jilted lovers. Users who install the new version of WhatsApp will have to scan a fingerprint to open up the Facebook-owned platform. "Earlier this year, we rolled out Touch ID and Face ID for iPhone to provide an extra layer of security for WhatsApp users," the micro-blogging platform said in a statement. "Today we're introducing similar authentication, allowing you to unlock the app with your fingerprint, on supported Android phones," it added. To enable it, tap Settings, go to Account, then Privacy and Fingerprint Lock. Turn on Unlock with fingerprint, and confirm your fingerprint. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

The discovery that hackers could snoop on WhatsApp should alert users of supposedly secure messaging apps to an uncomfortable truth: “End-to-end encryption” sounds nice — but if anyone can get into your phone’s operating system, they will be able to read your messages without having to decrypt them. According to a report in the Financial Times on Tuesday, the spyware that exploited the vulnerability was Pegasus, made by the Israeli company NSO. The malware could access a phone’s camera and microphone, open messages, capture what appears on a user’s screen, and log keystrokes — rendering encryption pointless. It works on all operating systems, including Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, and Microsoft’s rarely used mobile version of Windows. The cybersecurity community has known about it for years, and activists have been raising hell about its use against dissidents and journalists in dozens of countries — although NSO itself says it doesn’t sell Pegasus to unsavory regimes and t...