IIT Professor Claims Whatsapp Messages Can Be Traced; Media Files Now Can Be Edited On Whatsapp!

Isn’t it such a hassle to save and then edit a picture you’ve received on Whastapp, in your phone and then send it via the same platform to someone else? Well, good for you, Whatsapp is allegedly known to add a feature called ‘Quick Edit Media Shortcut’, which will help users edit a sent or received image directly within the WhatsApp media gallery. Whatsapp is currently working on this feature and nothing has regarding this has officially been announced yet.

Also, you know how Whatsapp claims that its messages are highly encrypted? Yes, so reports have come in that a professor from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has claimed that it is possible to trace the origins of a forwarded message on WhatsApp without breaking end-to-end encryption.

Whatsapp’s ‘Quick Edit Media Shortcut’

Whatsapp will soon be adding a ‘Quick Edit Media Shortcut’ feature that will allow users to quickly edit media files you have sent or received on the instant messaging app. Whatsapp hasn’t made anything regarding it public yet and it isn’t even available on any of its beta platforms.

WhatsApp at present doesn’t provide a native option to edit a media file that has been sent or received in chats and groups. However, you can download the media file first and then use the original media editing feature that is meant for tweaking the photos you send over WhatsApp.

This feature is reported to be so small that Whatsapp will likely directly release it in a future update. Once released, you can operate it by opening a chat to find an ‘Edit’ option. On Android, the option will be in the menu on the top right corner, while iOS users will find it down below. Notably, the shortcut wouldn’t tamper the original media file but create a newly edited version that can directly be sent via Whatsapp. It’ll also not likely bring any new editing features but just usual like crop, add text and draw doodles.

IIT Prof Ensures to Trace Whatsapp Messages Without Breaking Encryption!

Whatsapp has always been very thorough with their privacy policies. They’ve held pride in encrypting their messages in such a secure way claiming that even its employees cannot uncover the contents and identity of a message sent over its platform.

Amidst all this, V. Kamakoti a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has claimed that he has found a way to trace the origins of a forwarded message on WhatsApp without breaking end-to-end encryption, even though Whatsapp is sure that it is impossible to do so.

In one of his lectures, Kamakoti says, “When a message is sent from WhatsApp, the identity of the originator can also be revealed along with the message. So the message and the identity of the creator can be seen only by the recipient. When that recipient forwards the message, his/her identity can be revealed to the next recipient.” He assures that this can help trace messages without compromising the end-to-end encryption.

There could be several clauses to the professor’s idea of decrypting the sender but seeing from a technical perspective, his statements seem quite vague. Several technicians conclude that what Kamakoti is referring to, seems that a forwarded message retain the identity of the original sender, thus preserving end-to-end encryption. There are many loopholes here too.

However, Whatsapp has been adamant that it is impossible to uncover the identity of a message sent over its platform and this doesn’t seem to change in the near future.