What is end-to-end encryption ? Learn why WhatsApp and Telegram use this technology

 

The security of messages exchanged via WhatsApp and Telegram has surfaced in recent weeks due to recent developments in national politics. Many have wondered what end-to-end encryption is in these two applications.

Before we talk a little more about these technologies, we must make it clear that, at first, this is considered one of the safest ways to protect users' data. However, understanding how it works, we can still understand what may have happened to the leaked messages so that you can also take precautions.

What is end-to-end encryption?

End-to-end encryption is also known as end-to-end encryption or E2EE. This is a security feature that aims to protect messages exchanged by two or more people. The secret is to keep the key for reading the message only at the ends of the communication.

That is, when you send a message, a communication key is generated. This key allows only the recipient of the message to be able to read the content. If someone intercepts the messages halfway through, they will not be able to read them, as they will be encrypted.

This feature is proven to be safe. Not even the developers responsible for the apps are able to read the messages - which are temporarily stored on their servers - even though they have direct access to the content. The encryption key will always be missing.

How does encryption work?

Encrypting a message means shuffling it in such a way that it cannot be read by someone who has no means of decrypting it. Making a simplistic analogy, it is as if the letters were exchanged for numbers and, to make the exchanges, it would be necessary to have a template.

In the digital world, encryption is widely used not only in messages, but especially in sensitive data, such as information about credit cards and bank details. The more sophisticated the encryption, the more difficult the mission of those who try to intercept the messages.

There are also two types of encryption: asymmetric and symmetric. End-to-end encryption is of the asymmetric type, that is, only one key (the recipient's) can be applied to retrieve the information. Protocols such as SSL ( Secure Sockets Layer ) and TLS ( Transport Layer Security ) are examples of applications that use this type of technology.

Symmetric type encryption requires that both sides (sender and receiver) have the same key. From a security perspective, this poses a problem, as the key needs to be sent from one person to another - and can be intercepted halfway.

In other words, it would be as if to access a message on WhatsApp you would always need a different password, a password that you would need to receive by means other than the messenger.

The great merit of end-to-end encryption is the fact that it does not require user action, since applications are in charge of automating this function (which also increases security). In addition to Telegram and WhatsApp, services like Skype and Microsoft Outlook also have the same feature.