WhatsApp backdoor allows snooping on encrypted messages

Re:WhatsApp backdoor allows snooping on encrypted messages by samsonradu on Friday January 13, 2017 @09:51AM (#13391158)

I happened to have the Security Notifications on for a while now. I see the message: "X's security code has changed." pretty often. Under what circumstances does a new pair of encryption keys get generated?

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Re:WhatsApp backdoor allows snooping on encrypted messages by joopxiv on Friday January 13, 2017 @10:18AM (#13391410)

One circumstance is when you put your sim card in a different phone. The new phone recognises that you already have a WhatsApp account, as it's tied to your phone number, but it doesn't have your private key, so it will generate a new pair and start exchanging the public part.

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Re:WhatsApp backdoor allows snooping on encrypted messages by dmichulke on Friday January 13, 2017 @09:56AM (#13391228)

Maybe the very fact that you want to be notified of key change events got you marked as suspicious ;-)

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Re:WhatsApp backdoor allows snooping on encrypted messages by yomly on Friday January 13, 2017 @10:05AM (#13391295)

I think when people swap sims in their device it triggers a key change

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Re:WhatsApp backdoor allows snooping on encrypted messages by anotherboffin on Friday January 13, 2017 @11:27AM (#13392062)

A new pair of keys are also generated when a device is wiped and restored from backup (in my experience on iOS).

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