A headline-grabbing international lawsuit has cast some doubt on the security of WhatsApp chats, with claims that parent company Meta is not providing true end-to-end encryption and retains the ability to access user conversations internally.
As of February 21, Apple device users in the UK began seeing a notice that the iCloud end-to-end encryption feature is no longer available in their region. That stems from a secret order recently issued by the Home Office, only made known to the public due to inside sources leaking it to the media, requiring Apple to start implementing backdoor access to encrypted cloud data and to begin complying immediately.
The UK government is once again leaning on Apple for unrestricted access to the cloud backup data of its users. Apple would not be able to warn users that the UK’s required backdoor had been implemented and that their encrypted iCloud data was no longer entirely safe.
One of the few significant holes in Apple's end user security is set to be addressed, as Cupertino has announced plans to introduce end-to-end encryption to iCloud backups. A feature Apple has delayed due primarily to pressure from US federal law enforcement agencies.
The UK government line is that it does not want to outlaw end-to-end encryption, but simply "provide necessary tools" to law enforcement to ensure child cyber safety. This may include client-side scanning.
UK Home Secretary is offering grants of up to $117,000 to firms that can figure out how to bypass the end-to-end encryption used by the Facebook and WhatsApp messaging systems.
Recent rules passed in India that threaten end-to-end encryption are being challenged in court by WhatsApp. New "traceability" rules require social media platforms with at least five million users to be able to identify the originator of a message.
Since 2019, Facebook has been talking about adding end-to-end encryption to all its messaging services. It appears that the government of the United Kingdom would prefer that these plans go no further.
Some of Ring’s products will now be getting end-to-end encryption for the first time, six years after the company's flagship doorbell camera product first launched.
Zoom has decided to enable end-to-end encryption for all users including the free users and those subscribed to individual pro plan, provided they give up additional personal information.
