WhatsApp Reportedly Rejected UK Government Demand For Encryption Backdoor

from the under-pressure dept

The UK government has apparently already asked WhatsApp to provide it with an encryption backdoor, according to Sky News. The app developers were told they needed to come up with a way to give law enforcement access to message content but WhatsApp politely declined the probably not-all-that-polite "request."

That doesn't mean WhatsApp doesn't have anything it can give the government when it comes asking.

Sky News understands that WhatsApp co-operates with law enforcement to provide the metadata it does hold - the name of an account, when it was created, the last seen date, the IP address and associated email address. WhatsApp says it "appreciates the work that law enforcement agencies do to keep people safe around the world. We are prepared to carefully review, validate and respond to law enforcement requests based on applicable law and policy".

But it does point out it can't give law enforcement what it doesn't actually have.

[T]he company argues that it can't provide data that WhatsApp itself does not collect in the first place, including the contents of a message.

Encryption didn't seem to be much of an issue in many recent terrorist attacks, but its use is undoubtedly on the rise. It's unclear what the government showed or told Sky News, but this assertion seems dubious at best.

Sky News understands that 80% of investigations into terrorism and serious crime are now impacted by encryption.

As is the case over here, law enforcement officials are arguing WhatsApp and other encrypted message services should sacrifice user security for the good of the government. While cybersecurity experts continue to point out the nonexistence of backdoored-but-secure unicorns, intelligence officials continue to assert it can be done. All that needs to happen is for messaging services to make their products a little bit less safe.

UK intelligence officials believe a compromise could be possible - pointing out that cybersecurity isn't binary and that services offer different levels of cybersecurity to deal with different levels of threats.

WhatsApp is unlikely to budge on its backdoor rejection, leaving it with the real possibility of exiting the UK market if the government turns its requests into encryption-targeting law. And, as the UK goes, so goes Australia. The Australian government has been echoing the anti-encryption rumbling of Theresa May and other officials, indicating it too would like encrypted services to not be quite so encrypted.

It's not as though UK law enforcement/intelligence services don't have lawful options if WhatsApp refuses to budge. As cryptography expert Riana Pfefferkorn points out, there's more that can be done, even if it won't be as easy as firing off a warrant.

Riana Pfefferkorn, a cryptography policy fellow at Stanford University, said she sees a legal battle coming if the UK continues to force the issue, but she doesn't necessarily think the UK wants that fight. If courts determine that the Investigatory Powers Act is too broad, the public defeat in their fight against encryption would be a lot for the UK to overcome. Instead, Pfefferkorn said the government might just try hacking for the information they want, a power that the IP Act also allows. "There are other avenues they can take to try to achieve the same end," she said.

For now, WhatsApp message content is still out of reach of everyone but users engaged in conversation. Metadata and lawful hacking are still in play, even though most officials prefer an easier route. If pressure continues to mount, WhatsApp may exit markets rather than compromise its users. As much as intelligence officials may believe cybersecurity to be something other than "binary," the companies they're applying pressure to really only have two choices: give in to the government or exit market left. Neither are palatable options.

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Filed Under: backdoors, communications, encryption, uk

Companies: whatsapp