UK Pressuring WhatsApp To Give Up Encryption Secrets After London Terror Attack

Following the recent attack in Westminster, London, UK officials have been scrambling to provide its citizens with a measure of security and assure the public that it is doing everything it can to prevent future attacks. One of the things it is doing is apparently making WhatsApp open up its encryption technology to the government since the terrorist used the app before committing the heinous crime.

WhatsApp is undeniably the most secure consumer messenger app in the business, which makes it the perfect place to have a private conversation without fear of eavesdropping. Shortly before mowing down pedestrians with his car and stabbing a police officer, it seems Khalid Masood used the app, according to the screenshot that The Daily Mail posted.

As a result, the UK government is now asking the messaging service to cooperate with its intelligence agencies. U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd even said that it was absurd of Facebook and WhatsApp to continue keeping Masood’s privacy in an interview with the BBC, Bloomberg reports.

“We need to make sure that our intelligence services have the ability to get into encrypted services like WhatsApp,” Rudd told the publication on Sunday.

The Home Secretary also expressed her incredulity that the companies profiting off of the internet are still not taking adequate steps to prevent the spread of extremist propaganda online, which led to incidents like the London terror attack. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson agreed with Rudd’s stance, saying that tech companies should look to more than making money in conducting their business.

This is not the first time that governments and the tech industry have been at odds with regards to encryption technology, with several cases in the past showing private firms and agencies battling over rights to data. Apple, Google, and Amazon have had to fend off the FBI and the DOJ recently. However, WhatsApp has rarely ever been dragged into legal cases like this.