You can think of end-to-end encryption as a kind of key-lock principle: The sender's message is provided with a lock and can only be opened with the key of the desired recipient. All other entities, such as the provider of the communication service, the telecommunication provider or the Internet provider, cannot access the messages.
How encryption works
The English term for the encryption is " end-to-end encryption " (E2E) and describes the encryption of data via all transmission stations up to the recipient . The encryption and decryption therefore only takes place at the end points of the transmission . The security of this type of encryption is therefore very high, because no ciphertext can be decrypted without the secret key. The encryption is used by various providers. She not only uses WhatsApp , but also messaging services such as iMessage , Signal , Telegram or Threema . Even with emails this type of encryption is often used and basically works in the same way. The counterpart is point-to-point encryption , in which all instances have access to the sent content..
End to end encryption with WhatsApp
In order for the encryption to work properly, both conversation participants must have the current WhatsApp version installed on their smartphone. It doesn't matter which operating system the smartphone has. When you reopen a chat on WhatsApp, you will see " Messages in this chat and calls are now protected with end-to-end encryption. Tap for more information ".
When you tap the window, you will be redirected to the WhatsApp official website. There you will find further information on encryption and a detailed technical explanation, which you can download there as an English PDF.
But be careful : WhatsApp still documents some metadata . If you use the app and have thereby agreed to the terms, provide WhatsApp with your telephone number and that of your contacts. The time and date stamps of successfully delivered messages are saved in the same way . This enables the intelligence service to determine who communicated with whom and when. This is why E2E encryption is known as " bogus security ". WhatsApp cannot be used entirely without submitting data. Heise online has tested how secure WhatsApp encryption actually is..
