Whatsapp Encrytion App

lufties

Hi there, does anyone know of any proper (spam free) WhatsApp encryption apps for encrypting back up data?
Thanks

thomasj

lufties wrote:

Hi there, does anyone know of any proper (spam free) WhatsApp encryption apps for encrypting back up data? Thanks

Are back up files not encrypted already in WhatsApp? They are in ios

lufties

thomasj wrote: »

lufties wrote:

Hi there, does anyone know of any proper (spam free) WhatsApp encryption apps for encrypting back up data? Thanks

Are back up files not encrypted already in WhatsApp?  They are in ios

Not for back up of chats, not on android anyway. Apparently you need an encyption app

Testament1

lufties wrote: »

Not for back up of chats, not on android anyway. Apparently you need an encyption app

Go into settings, chats, chat back up. It backs up messages to Google Drive. You can set it to back up daily, weekly or monthly. Never heard of needing an encryption app.

Testament1

Testament1 wrote: »

Go into settings, chats, chat back up. It backs up messages to Google Drive. You can set it to back up daily, weekly or monthly. Never heard of needing an encryption app.

They are concerned someone might get access to their Google Drive backup and get their hands on some incriminating evidence.....

lufties

Testament1 wrote: »

lufties wrote: »

Not for back up of chats, not on android anyway. Apparently you need an encyption app

Go into settings, chats, chat back up. It backs up messages to Google Drive. You can set it to back up daily, weekly or monthly. Never heard of needing an encryption app.

that does not work, yes it backs it up, but the 'chats' saved cannot be viewed on google drive for some reason

Testament1

lufties wrote: »

that does not work, yes it backs it up, but the 'chats' saved cannot be viewed on google drive for some reason

Ah right, didn't realise you wanted to view them on Drive, sorry. Thought you were just looking for a back up that would restore onto WhatsApp if you lost/changed a phone.

CatInABox

lufties wrote: »

that does not work, yes it backs it up, but the 'chats' saved cannot be viewed on google drive for some reason

Are you talking about viewing the chats once you back them up to Google drive?

If you are, then no, it's not possible.

lufties

CatInABox wrote: »

lufties wrote: »

that does not work, yes it backs it up, but the 'chats' saved cannot be viewed on google drive for some reason

Are you talking about viewing the chats once you back them up to Google drive?

If you are, then no, it's not possible.

Well I basically have a potential court case coming up where I have important correspondance that I need to access. During that time I used a back up phone, as my other one was not working.

Google tells me it is possible, but you can restore your backups to your device anyway.....so I guess the only reason someone would want to do this is to read through someone else's chats.

lufties

lufties wrote: »

CatInABox wrote: »

lufties wrote: »

that does not work, yes it backs it up, but the 'chats' saved cannot be viewed on google drive for some reason

Are you talking about viewing the chats once you back them up to Google drive?

If you are, then no, it's not possible.

Well I basically have a potential court case coming up where I have important correspondance that I need to access. During that time I used a back up phone, as my other one was not working.

If you can't view the chat, whats the point in back up?

me_irl

Least of your problems! With my tinfoil hat slipping, I'm looking for a decent open source, safe alternative. But then the downside is getting all of my friend (singular...that's the joke) to jump ship too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yELed8lfuRw

CatInABox

lufties wrote: »

If you can't view the chat, whats the point in back up?

It's a back up so that you can restore it to a phone. You just need to download whatsapp on your new phone, with the same phone number (I believe, it may be down to the Google account as well), and then you can restore it from there.

CatInABox

me_irl wrote: »

Least of your problems! With my tinfoil hat slipping, I'm looking for a decent open source, safe alternative. But then the downside is getting all of my friend (singular...that's the joke) to jump ship too.

Ah god, no, not this stuff again. That's website prefetch. It really isn't anything, and should only enter into your security considerations if you are worried about being a target of a nation state actor.

If, however, you are actually serious, then Signal uses the same E2E encryption as Whatsapp, but without that "flaw". Not as convenient either, but those are the trade offs.

me_irl

CatInABox wrote: »

Ah god, no, not this stuff again. That's website prefetch. It really isn't anything, and should only enter into your security considerations if you are worried about being a target of a nation state actor.

If, however, you are actually serious, then Signal uses the same E2E encryption as Whatsapp, but without that "flaw". Not as convenient either, but those are the trade offs.

Thanks a mil for your reply. I'm sure information like this is just fuel for those who are on the knee-jerk paranoia scale then!

CatInABox

me_irl wrote: »

Thanks a mil for your reply. I'm sure information like this is just fuel for those who are on the knee-jerk paranoia scale then!

Yeah, there are people that love a conspiracy, even if it's not there. The Guardian spent 6 months pushing the angle that Whatsapp was compromised, due to the way that the encryption is set up, and that activists shouldn't use it.

During those 6 months, nearly every respected cryptography expert came out and rubbished their claims. They did eventually apologise for it, and say that all aspects of their report didn't met their standards, but it hasn't stopped people from going off the deep end about it.

Those people use Signal. Those people use TOR. Those people almost certainly don't need to do either.