Tech companies are using more and more encryption. The main reason behind this is the leakage of secret documents by Edward Snowden. For example: WhatsApp now uses the open source system TextSecure on Android. As a result there is almost zero percent change that messages are intercepted or can be deciphered.
Microsoft and Apple now offers the chance to encrypt the data storage on their devices. They had it for years but new technologies like custom-made chips decrease the slowdowns of encrypting the data.
Encryption technologies become free for developers to use, a good example is Let’s Encrypt. Let’s Encrypt is the result of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocacy group with members like Cisco and Mozilla. Let’s Encrypt is a process that let online services secure their system automatically with digital certificates. If the digital certificates expire, Let’s Encrypt automatically renews the certificate.
I think the fact that online privacy has been not an important issue for too long. The fact that after Snowden a lot of new security options became available shows that I am not the only one. But there is always the case that governments, especially from America, like to get data from someone’s phone or online profile. With the new encryption technologies even the product makers can’t access the data like for example Apple. Governments can use this information to protect their citizens. If security is the reason to get data from someone this should be allowed. That is why encryption should not be impossible to crack.
Blog van Giel 