Twenty EU tech companies have written to ministers across the European Union urging them not to support a proposed regulation on child sexual abuse that could undermine the security of internet services that rely on end-to-end encryption. The companies, which include encrypted email and messaging providers, warn that the proposals by the EU Commission would “negatively impact children’s privacy and security” and could have “dramatic unforeseen consequences” for cyber-security. Their open letter, published today, warns that the European Commission’s draft regulation, which requires the mass scanning of encrypted communications, will create security vulnerabilities that will put citizens and businesses at greater risk, if they are implemented in EU law. The letter aims to end an impasse between member states, the European Commission and the European Parliament, which disagree on whether indiscriminate encrypted messages is a proportionate and workable
An amendment to the Online Safety Bill, currently going through Parliament, will put pressure on tech companies over end-to-end encrypted messaging services.
What is the worst current trend in cybersecurity? “Complete dependence on a single security product/solution. Cybersecurity needs to be holistic and strategic to be successful and completely depends on top-notch people, process, and technology.”
Apple’s proposal to compel iPhone users to accept updates that would automatically and covertly search shared images for possible abuse material and send reports to Apple or law enforcement agencies condemned as unworkable, vulnerable to abuse and a threat to safety and security by world’s top cryptographic experts and internet pioneers.
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Five years ago today, WhatsApp completed our roll out of end-to-end encryption, which provides people all over the world with the ability to communicate privately and securely. This was a technical achievement decades in the making, a vision first imagined by Stanford mathematicians Whit Diffie and Martin Hellman, who in 1975 developed the underlying cryptography we rely on today.
In the past five years, WhatsApp has securely delivered over 100 trillion messages to over 2 billion users. During the height of the global pandemic lockdown, end-to-end encryption protected peopleâs most personal thoughts when it was impossible to come together in person.Â