Instant Messaging applications have been stealing the limelight for the past couple of years. There are several such applications that are widely used by masses across the globe today. Some among the prominent ones are WhatsApp, Telegram, Kik, Skype etc. These applications are scripted to let you connect with anyone across the globe, with the click of a button in addition to providing you the privilege to share media with the same effort. However, these instant messaging applications have been posing serious threats of sensitive data leak.

WhatsApp is a widely popular messaging application used by billions of people today. However, over the last couple of years, the encryption technology adopted by this popular messaging application has been under the radar. It was speculated that the pertinent technology used by the WhatsApp can be decrypted when the internet connection used was Wi-Fi or any other public channel. While other chat applications like Telegram already established a more secure means to pass encrypted data, WhatsApp was accused of lagging behind in terms of security.

As an effort to address the security concern revolving around WhatsApp, the authority was forced tie up with Open Whisper Systems last year. With this association, the Open Whisper System was committed to integrate the Signal Protocol to WhatsApp with the aim of ensuring end to end messaging encryption for the app by default. Last week, Open Whisper System confirmed the successful integration of the Signal Protocol to WhatsApp, meaning all the message and media transfer taking place via the messaging application will be encrypted by default.

Users who are using the updated version of WhatsApp will avail themselves with strong encryption protocol which can even encrypt the calls they make via this application. Users will also be notified by end to end encryption functionality by WhatsApp via notifications placed on their chat screens as well as the chat preference screen. Check for this WhatsApp notification “Messages you send to this chat and calls are now secured with end-to-end encryption. Tap for more info.” to ensure that your WhatsApp application is up-to-date. As the user of the updated application, you will have the privilege to verify the authenticity of the secure chat sessions. This can be accomplished via scanning a QR code or voice recording a string.

As per the reports, the Open Whisper Systems have been perpetually working on improving other messenger’s security and it hopes to make data exchange secure with most of the pertinent applications by the next year.