TheChek News Flow

It’s a security project that’s taken around a year and a half to complete, but messaging giant WhatsApp has now fully implemented strong end-to-end encryption on its platform and across all mobile platforms for which it offers apps.

This means users of the latest versions of the messaging app will have their comms and media end-to-end encrypted by default. And there are a lot of WhatsApp users; earlier this year the Facebook owned company announced it had passed a billion active users.

Securing cross-platform video comms was the last piece of the puzzle, according to a WhatsApp spokesman.

End-to-end encryption means the content of communications are not stored in plaintext on WhatsApp’s servers. Nor is the company able to decrypt users’ messages to access them since it does not hold the encryption keys. So WhatsApp will be unable to be compelled to hand over messaging data — even if served with a warrant by authorities demanding access.

While the WhatsApp news may seem timely in light of the recent high-profile battle between Apple and the FBI over an encrypted iPhone, the company has in fact been implementing encryption since 2013, the year NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden triggered a global privacy storm by revealing the extent of government mass surveillance programs.

WhatsApp then went on to partner with Open Whisper Systems the following year, and has been integrating its widely respected end-to-end encryption Signal Protocol specifically since late 2014. In a blog post today the not-for-profit hacker collective behind the latter open source tech confirmed the WhatsApp implementation is now complete.

“This includes chats, group chats, attachments, voice notes, and voice calls across Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, Nokia S40, Nokia S60, Blackberry, and BB10,” it wrote. “Users running the most recent versions of WhatsApp on any platform now get full end to end encryption for every message they send and every WhatsApp call they make when communicating with each other.”

Although the completion of default end-to-end encryption is a hugely important security milestone for the WhatsApp platform, it does not mean that from here on in every communication sent via the app is end-to-end encrypted, because that’s reliant on all users being upgraded to the latest version of the software.

But the WhatsApp client will now notify users of the encryption status of chats, including showing a notice in the messaging screen, to help bridge the transitional phase:

WhatsApp encryption

“Eventually all the pre-e2e [end-to-end] capable clients will expire, at which point new versions of the software will no longer transmit or accept plaintext messages at all,” notes Open Whisper Systems.

WhatsApp users will also be able to confirm the person they are chatting with is the person they think it is, rather than an imposter performing a man-in-the-middle attack, by verifying the authenticity of the encryption session via scanning a QR code or reading aloud a number string.

For its part, Open Whisper Systems says it is looking ahead to additional rollouts of its tech, saying it will “continue to work with additional messengers” over the next year.

The group also has its own encrypted messaging app, Signal, which launched in March last year. Albeit, the question now is whether Edward Snowden will be switching to WhatsApp…

276k orders make almost 9bil only on Tesla 3...

The GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the first quarter of 2016 is 0.4 percent on April 5, down from 0.7 percent on April 1. After yesterday morning's light vehicle sales release from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the manufacturing report from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the forecast for real GDP growth declined from 0.7 percent to 0.4 percent due to declines in the forecasts for real consumer spending growth and real equipment investment growth. The forecast for real GDP growth remained at 0.4 percent after this morning's international trade report from the U.S. Census Bureau, as a slight decline in the forecast for real net exports was offset by a slight increase in the forecast of real equipment investment growth.

Remaining suitors for the second round of Philips’ [AMS:PHA] Lighting business auction are progressing on bid preparation ahead of an 18 April deadline, several sources familiar with the process told this news service.

Chinese Go Scale has mandated Credit Suisse; the Blackstone and Onex consortium is advised by UBS and Deutsche Bank, and Apollo Global Management is bidding jointly with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Philips continues preparing for an IPO of Lighting, with bookrunner analysts having met management on 31 March to gather further detail on numbers, as reported by this news service. Philips will then have three to four weeks to decide whether to sell or go ahead with the filing of an intention to float, one of the sources said.

Philips had been favouring a sale from the beginning of the process when it had KKR, CVC, Bain, Onex, Melrose [LON:MRO], Blackstone and Go Scale all in the running, the second source said. Philips took a closer look at the IPO route as some of these fell away, he added.

However, a full sale is still considered to be a preferred option versus a partial sale via a staged IPO exit, as Philips is looking to use the proceeds to fund acquisitions, the source said. Additionally, Europe’s equity capital markets are weak at present, he added.

Just 24 European IPOs priced in 1Q16 versus 58 in 1Q15, according to Mergermarket data. Deal volumes have been hit by market volatility and concerns around a potential UK exit from the EU.

Philips Lighting could be worth around EUR 4.5bn, this news service previously reported. Philips is reviewing all strategic options for its Lighting unit and has no preferred exit option, a spokesperson said.

Onex did not respond to a request for comment. All other companies declined to comment.