Think your private WhatsApp messages are truly private? A recent internal warning on WhatsApp suggests otherwise. Despite end-to-end encryption, a newly discovered vulnerability could allow attackers, including governments, to see who you’re communicating with.
WhatsApp’s security team warned that despite its encryption, users remain vulnerable to government surveillance, according to previously undisclosed documents obtained by The Intercept’s investigative journalists.
The report was compiled by WhatsApp engineers and sent to Meta’s upper management, highlighting that although 2 billion user conversations’ content on WhatsApp remains secure however government agencies can bypass encryption to identify communication patterns, private group composition, and user location. Moreover, government agents can use internet infrastructure to monitor encrypted communications, enabling them to identify the identities involved in conversations.
The vulnerability is related to traffic analysis, a method of monitoring networks on a national scale, identifying patterns in encrypted internet data flows and revealing connections between users based on activity spikes, even if the messages exchanged aren’t content-related. It aids governments in finding hidden identities in conversations, providing valuable metadata for intelligence and military agencies worldwide, including who, when, and where they communicate.
By exploiting this flaw, attackers could potentially gain access to a list of phone numbers belonging to people in a specific group and get identities exposed even if they cannot access conversations.
“Our at-risk users need robust and viable protections against traffic analysis.”
Memo
The vulnerability warning has sparked concern among WhatsApp staff. They fear that Israeli intelligence agencies could potentially exploit it to spy on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This concern arises from the fact that traffic analysis, the method mentioned in the warning, is utilized by countries with data-sharing agreements like the “Five Eyes” alliance, as well as by neighbouring or occupied nations like Israel.
While the exact methods of exploitation are still under wraps, anyone using WhatsApp could be vulnerable, especially those in regions with a history of government surveillance. WhatsApp’s security team flagged this issue internally in March. However, the details of a fix or the extent of the vulnerability remain unclear.
But there’s no need to panic! just be cautious of group invites and new contacts, especially if they seem suspicious and consider apps with a stronger privacy track record for more secure communication.
