[kictanet] CA Speaks to Internet Shutdowns and "Monitoring" of Online Comms

[Nanjira Sambuli]

Alex, your question shows how easily we trust platforms the moment they claim to have encryption or be secure. 

Here’s the situation with WhatsApp: 
"WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption relies on the generation of unique security keys, using the acclaimed Signal protocol, developed by Open Whisper Systems <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/05/whatsapp-rolls-out-full-encryption-to-a-billion-messenger-users>, that are traded and verified between users to guarantee communications are secure and cannot be intercepted by a middleman. However, WhatsApp has the ability to force the generation of new encryption keys for offline users, unbeknown to the sender and recipient of the messages, and to make the sender re-encrypt messages with new keys and send them again for any messages that have not been marked as delivered.
The recipient is not made aware of this change in encryption, while the sender is only notified if they have opted-in to encryption warnings in settings, and only after the messages have been re-sent. This re-encryption and rebroadcasting effectively allows WhatsApp to intercept and read users’ messages.” 


Read more at https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/13/whatsapp-backdoor-allows-snooping-on-encrypted-messages <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/13/whatsapp-backdoor-allows-snooping-on-encrypted-messages> 


> On 13 Jan 2017, at 18:46, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:
> 
> Alex
> 
> Nothing is impenetrable...
> 
> Ali Hussein
> Principal
> Hussein & Associates
> +254 0713 601113 
> 
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
> Skype: abu-jomo
> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
> 
> "Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
> On 13 Jan 2017, at 6:33 PM, alex watila via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke <mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
> 
>> WhatsApp has end to end encryption. how will they Access the communication?
>> 
>> On 13 Jan 2017 16:36, Nanjira Sambuli via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke <mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
>> I have serialised the interesting developments on the matter here: https://twitter.com/ninanjira/status/819809470544953344  <https://twitter.com/ninanjira/status/819809470544953344>
>> 
>> Interesting to note the amount of money invested in ‘online monitoring’ systems. 
>> 
>> PS: Even WhatsApp isn’t the safe haven we imagined it to be! 
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> Nanjira 
>> www.nanjira.com  <http://www.nanjira.com/>
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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Regards,

Nanjira 
www.nanjira.com  <http://www.nanjira.com/>

About.Me <http://about.me/ninanjira> | Twitter <http://www.twitter.com/ninanjira> | LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/in/nanjira> | Skype <http://hatscripts.com/addskype?nanjirasambuli>

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