“Understanding Direct Message and End-to-End Encryption for Social Platform Conversations”

JawaPos.com – Direct Message or DM encryption and end-to-end encryption are currently hot topics. Why do we need to know? This is because this feature is tasked with protecting our conversations on social platforms so that they are not accessed by other parties, including the application owner.

Some things people need to know, what is encrypted message? Through its explanation, WhatsApp explains encryption is a way to protect your conversations. This is especially important considering how much personal and confidential information you share with friends, family and colleagues, and you don’t want it to be leaked or stolen.

In simple terms, encryption is a way of locking data so that only those with a certain key (also known as an encryption key) can open it.

Then, how is it different from end-to-end encrypted messages? Not all encrypted messages are created equal. End-to-end encryption ensures that only you and the recipient can read messages, not the platform you’re using to communicate.

Basically, only the recipient and sender have the necessary keys to open and read the message, and not from the platform side. This protects all messages from attacks, including man-in-the-middle attacks (where attackers exploit vulnerabilities to eavesdrop).

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Many popular messaging apps have end-to-end encryption, but not all apps implement end-to-end encryption by default. This means that this feature must be ‘activated’ manually, for example by choosing to start a private or secret conversation.

Whatsapp and Signal are examples of free apps that are end-to-end encrypted by default. To explain how it works, in WhatsApp, before the message is sent, the message is secured with a cryptographic key, and only the recipient has the key to open it.

Additionally, this key changes each time a message is sent. This process is done behind the scenes, but you can check whether your conversations are protected by clicking on the contact’s name and selecting Encryption > Verify Security Code.

Does encryption protect only the messages I send? No. Try to imagine all the things you share with friends, family and colleagues through messaging platforms. Photos, documents, voice notes, and even voice and video calls you make.

Messaging apps that have end-to-end encryption by default will provide the same level of protection for all of these things. The difference is WhatsApp, the platform guarantees that user data remains safe and confidential, even when backing it up to the cloud.

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On WhatsApp, for example, by default, messages will only be stored in your phone’s memory. End-to-end encrypted backup ensures that your messages are further protected when you back them up to whichever cloud service you use.

You can choose to enable encrypted backup on WhatsApp, and your messages will be immediately protected by a 64-digit encryption key or password (which cannot be reset via the ‘forgot password’ system).