Is WhatsApp safe? Not according to its ex-security chief | Proton
WhatsApp's ex-security chief is suing Meta over privacy and security concerns, adding to recent whistleblower claims. Find out how safe WhatsApp is.
Nothing suggests that WhatsApp’s encryption protocol has been broken or that Meta can read the contents of your conversations.
Nothing prevents them from reading the messages prior to encryption or after decryption.
Well not nothing. Android apps are quite easy to reverse engineer so there would be a high risk of them getting caught which would be quite damaging for WhatsApp's brand.
I wouldn't say it's a lot, but it isn't nothing.
There is certainly nothing technical stopping them from doing it, but that's true of Signal too.
Well not nothing. Android apps are quite easy to reverse engineer so there would be a high risk of them getting caught which would be quite damaging for WhatsApp's brand.
none of their users would care. but also good luck finding a news site that cares to write about it and has some reach
There is certainly nothing technical stopping them from doing it, but that's true of Signal too.
isn't signal built reproducibly, without obfuscation?
https://faq.whatsapp.com/414631957536067/
Either the report function doesn't work like they say, or messages are stored decrypted, or they can decrypt messages at will based on a simple request from another user
Edit: fixed
hhttps://
I think I have to decrypt this url before I can open it
/edit: I did it! I was able to decrypt it!
When you report a user in an individual chat, WhatsApp receives up to five of the last messages they’ve sent to you.
This particular function is not at odds with E2EE. The client can either:
You have to be stupid to think WhatsApp, a Facebook company, doesn't have access to your messages.
They ran a bunch of full page adds this summer. All it said was "no one can see your messages but you." I immediately decided that was not true, otherwise why advertise it?
Yeah, I don't know who thought that was a good idea to advertise. It'd be like Betty Crocker cake boxes suddenly saying "Uranium Free!".
Like, yes, I wouldn't expect food to usually have added uranium too it, so why are you saying it?...
The only time I remember feeling genuine panic at a software update was years ago when my laptop suddenly decided it urgently had to restart. It took longer than I'd expected to boot up again and it kept showing the message 'All your files are exactly where you left them'.
I have no idea how or why but that really felt like a threat 🤣 of course when it finally turned on I was scouring all my folders trying to remember what I had where to see what they'd accidentally deleted. I felt stupid for being so suspicious then went online and 'all your files are exactly where you left them' was already turning into a meme. It made people angry as hell.
And thinking about it, if someone is unlocking their front door and you interrupt them to say 'excuse me, sorry, just wanted to say: all the stuff in your bedroom is exactly how you left it,' they probably would not feel reassured.
It is not a reassuring thing to hear. Anyway, fuck meta.
Half of messengers advertise privacy
If you're interested in relatively safe alternatives, have a look at Signal
Proton’s official account said the company was “alerted by a CERT that certain accounts were being misused by hackers in violation of Proton’s Terms of Service,”
Proton’s CEO later announced that the accounts were reinstated, following another post by the company that said the company does “stand with journalists,” but that it “cannot see the content of accounts and therefore cannot always know when anti-abuse measures may inadvertently affect legitimate activism.”
Sounds reasonable to me? It's not a good look but it sounds like they quickly re-instated the closed accounts. The article title is misleading.
The only reason they reinstated the accounts was because people blew them up on social media. If the appeals process failed them, it will definitely fail the average joe who doesn't have the same level of influence online.
I've been a paying Proton user for years, and had already been looking for the exit, but this is the straw the broke the camel's back. Using Nym for my VPN now, looking to migrate my other services soon.
That doesn't make WhatsApp safe. Proton having it's own issues does not invalidate what they're sharing about WhatsApp concerns.
I agree, they’re both questionable, the absurd thing is that nobody is talking about the safer alternatives
This does feel like a random lash out after this story, the reports of the CEO earlier this year and the reports that they were going to move out of Switzerland.
Let's just randomly punch down at something the vast majority of our users wouldn't trust already?
I'd understand writing something like this if they were about to launch their own messenger product. But even then, this article doesn't offer anything new.
Even their CEO did not practice safe sex when he sucked the dick of Trump without a condom.
WhatsApp is not open-source, you can't compile the client yourself. It doesn't matter if it's been audited by a third party. That version could've easily been backdoor-free.
I get people may enjoy the technical aspects to WhatsApps privacy. It's a meta app and therefore is not safe, which should be basic critical thinking.
I hate when people say this, then move to telegram and have all chats unencrypted
Attaullah Baig, who ran WhatsApp’s security team between 2021 and 2025, says the app isn’t nearly as private as Meta claims. In his lawsuit, he alleges that roughly 1,500 employees have access to sensitive user information, including location, profile photos, group memberships, and contact lists.
Also unaddressed account takeovers.
Group memberships and contact lists are golden data for both Meta and snoopy governments.
Literally owned by Facebook. No, Whatsapp is not safe.
Almost everyone I know has left WhatsApp for Telegram anyway.
Telegram may not be perfect but it's still better, wish people stopped being addicted to WhatsApp and Instagram here...
I’m not a fan of them, but I don’t think you could point to any email provider that can’t or won’t provide IP addresses and recovery emails to law enforcement when compelled. You can use proton without a recovery email and over tor, which is more than most allow as well.