WhatsApp – Highs and lows in one month

WhatsApp   Highs and lows in one month

Not that we wouldn’t pay attention to one of the most popular messaging mobile applications in the world today, but there’s been a lot more attention placed upon it recently since Facebook snapped it up.

Those who were concerned about privacy have been trying out a number of alternative apps, like Telegram, Threema and TextSecure to name a few. They aren’t bad, and some act and feel more like WhatsApp than you’d expect. It probably didn’t come as a surprise to them when The Guardian published an article from a researcher called Bas Bosschert… who basically alleged that your WhatsApp messages on your device aren’t as secure as you’d think.

WhatsApp   Highs and lows in one month

So it was good news when WhatsApp came back metaphorically swinging with their recent update, giving you the option to gift a subscription (‘pay for a friend’) and some privacy settings to ameliorate some of the security concerns.

They also released a statement to let us know that the proof of concept put together by Bas really isn’t as bad as we think.

“We are aware of the reports regarding a ‘security flaw.’ Unfortunately, these reports have not painted an accurate picture and are overstated,” a WhatsApp spokesman said.

Interesting times ahead for the $19 billion company indeed. Its one of the few communications that puts its money (well, some of it) where its mouth is and is as platform agnostic as it gets.