Message Encryption: Is WhatsApp Really safe?

By the happenings in our digital world, information and digital access are very important. Virtually all information is online. In fact, the world is getting to a phase where every transaction and human dealing will be either over the internet or digital. The digital age has provided a high percentage of the human population with mobile phones. The different brands of mobile phones are powered by a variety of applications of varying functionality. We now have that application programs that can be used for gaming, chatting, video conferencing, purchase and sales, aviation and weather forecast. Notable among these different apps is WhatsApp. However, despite the different benefits there has been a recurring problem about the digital age. Regardless of the advancement in technology, hackers still pose a very serious problem. They have managed to infiltrate a lot of "secure" apps leading to loss of information and it seems like the WhatsApp Messenger is now on the radar.

The WhatsApp Messenger is a mobile application released in 2009. It was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Actom but is now owned by Facebook. Since it's inception in 2009, WhatsApp has grown so popular that five out of every 10 mobile phone owners make use of the app. The app has been a massive success due to its ease of use and the fact that it supports instant messaging. Over the years, WhatsApp has been as secure as possible but it now seems like there is a problem. This security problem was announced by Whatsapp. According to WhatsApp there is a security flaw in the app which allows attackers install spyware in the mobile phones of their targets.

Now, for anyone who is adept with technology, this is a quite serious problem. We all know that WhatsApp is linked to the lives of different people. This means that if any hacker is able to gain access to the WhatsApp application on your mobile phone, any information sent via WhatsApp on your phone may be at risk. Yes, it is true that WhatsApp messages remain encrypted and this means that the messages can only be decrypted by the receiver. However, the information in messages can still be accessed before or after they are decrypted. This basically means that the information can be accessed on either the phone of the sender or the receiver. This makes the security leak as dangerous as ever.

In truth, a lot of credit should be given to WhatsApp for all their efforts to stifle the activities of this attackers. It must be said that the threat has been managed to a minimum. The possibility of a hack still brings the question to mind; is WhatsApp really safe?