In recent years, WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. End-to-end encryption is the process by which the service uses robust security for the protection of its users' communications. The fact that messages are encrypted makes it very easy to ensure that they will remain private until they reach their intended destination from the moment they leave the smartphone of the sender.
The end-to-end encryption method works like this: it scrambles the content of communications into an unreadable form that cannot be decrypted. Before the message leaves the sender's device, the message will be transformed into a complex code, thus protecting the sensitive data inside. It is critical to note that the key to this system is only possessed by the intended recipient's device and therefore only he or she would be able to unlock and decrypt messages that come in this format.
Encryption with this digital key is considered to be particularly useful in combating the phenomenon of man-in-the-middle (MiTM) attacks. The man-in-the-middle attack refers to an action where a malicious actor intercepts a communication between two parties, possibly by listening in or even altering the content of the communication.
The letter appears as though somebody reads it secretly before it reaches the recipient and there is something about it that is suspicious.
With WhatsApp's encryption, it makes sure that even if a man-in-the-middle attacker intercepts the data, they will not be able to decipher the contents of the data, since they do not have access to the right key to decrypt it.
Even though this encryption is designed to protect members of WhatsApp against man-in-the-middle attacks and interception during transmission, it doesn't mean that WhatsApp messages will be immune to cell phone forensics technology used by digital forensic experts who are trained in digital forensics analysis.
A WhatsApp message is stored on the smartphone where it is retrieved at any time
The recipient must be able to decrypt the message he receives once the message reaches his or her device. During this process of decryption, which occurs automatically on the device, cell phone forensics professionals have the opportunity to examine the messages on the device.
A WhatsApp message is stored in WhatsApp's local database when it arrives on the device of the recipient when it's encrypted. It is recommended that you encrypt this database, but the key for encryption is kept on the device itself.
It is possible to decrypt the messages sent by WhatsApp using the encryption key that is stored by WhatsApp on a smartphone when it is opened in real-time by the customer to read their messages.
A screen will then appear on the device displaying the content that has been decrypted.
A smartphone forensics technology was developed to exploit this process, assuming access was possible to the phone, the device itself. By accessing the cell phone forensically, it is possible to extract the WhatsApp database directly from the mobile phone and then decrypt it with forensic tools.
There is a sense that the digital forensic examiner has access to the communications, just as he or she would have access to them if they were on WhatsApp.
Cell phone forensics technology can decipher encrypted communication on a smartphone and recover deleted messages from other messaging applications like WhatsApp and many others, depending on the phone's make, model and operating system.
Even though the lock on the smartphone protects WhatsApp communication, there are many government agencies and a few private digital forensics experts that have access to technology that can crack or bypass smartphone passcodes, which can be used to intercept WhatsApp communication.
