The most popular instant messaging app on mobile phones adds greater security to the browser version: WhatsApp Web now lets you check if encryption keys have been compromised with a handy extension. Thanks to Cloudflare’s independent verification, WhatsApp users they can easily ensure that there are no security risks in their messages.
WhatsApp is almost synonymous with messaging on mobile phones, it’s one of the first apps that lands on every new phone. Due to this huge popularity, and after the privacy doubts the platform raised last year, WhatsApp has strengthened the security of its service
Code Verify, a browser extension that verifies security
WhatsApp communication security is based on end-to-end encryption, a means of protecting message content so that no one can intercept such content, not even WhatsApp (another thing is the metadata of each post). Using a key that only the sender of the message and the recipient know, apps ensure that chats have not been compromised. They do this by automatically (and frequently) checking that the keys match.
With the new cross-device feature, WhatsApp can work on web browsers and computers. without needing the phone that has the account number to be active
In collaboration with Cloudflare, an independent company specializing in web security and privacy, WhatsApp has developed the Code Verify extension for computers, an open source tool that helps ensure that encrypted communications have not been compromised. Once this extension is installed and WhatsApp Web is open, Code Verify comes into operation: its icon can be colored in three different ways.
- Green. The encryption keys match and the extension was able to validate that WhatsApp’s security was not compromised.
- Orange. Something in your browser is interfering with Code Verify verification; it may also happen that the verification request has been exhausted. Either way, you need to reload the page and pay attention to the icon.
- Red. There are security risks in communications established with WhatsApp servers. If this icon appears, you need to close WhatsApp Web, log off account sessions and use primary mobile only.
The different colors of Code Verify
The Code Verify extension is available for FireFox, Edge and Chrome, it should also work in all other Chromium-based browsers that have the ability to install extensions. It can be downloaded from the respective browser add-on stores.
More information | whatsapp, cloudflare
