4 ms·

This is the first time i hear about WhatsApp storing unecrypted copies of my chats in their cloud. Can you provide more information?

• gaius_baltar 6y ago
  I suppose the AFAIK (I do not use WhatsApp), it's Google backup services on Android. WhatsApp stores the local chat history unencrypted in the device and does not mark it as "do not backup", so the cloud sync service uploads it to the backup service. And Android does not encrypt this information. For contrast, Signal does encrypt the local history and the backups (to the point that is a bit harder to backup the chat to outside in Android, you need to copy a randomly generate password manually to restore it. But it's a safe approach).
  • danhor 6y ago
    Additionally, WhatsApp heavily encourages storing backups in Google Drive as well, with semi-regular popups asking users to configure backups in GDrive and to set the backup interval, if not already done. Obviously this doesn't mean Facebook has the information and the straightforward interpretation is that it's the least involved way of creating backups without sending it all to facebook
    • eitland 6y ago
      Agree. My point is mostly aimed at people claiming WhatsApp is somehow very safe just because of the end-to-end encryption. I'm saying end-to-end encryption is a really great idea and everyone should do that and still encouraging people to look beyond that and think about the entire threat model when deciding what is important for them.
  • _o-o_ 6y ago
    It's disabled by default. Whatsapp asks you annoyingly to enable it. I have never accepted the cloud back up.