This has always been a question of whether authorities can access your WhatsApp account. After several actors being summoned in the investigation regarding Sushant Singh Rajput, cloning is considered to be one of the possibilities to solve the mystery of the case. The chats were obtained from the talent manager’s mobile. Also, there is another question as to how one can retrieve the chats from the mobiles? The answer is mobile phone cloning which is not a new method and has been known for several years.
Mobile phone cloning has been in this field for a long time since 2005. It is a method through which phone’s data and the identity were being cloned from one mobile to another mobile. Although cloning phones isn’t lawful for individuals authorities can access the data by going through a forensic way.
Experts are saying that phone cloning entails programming skills and within a few minutes identity data can be copied from one system to another. Previously, mobile’s physical access was needed if any user wants to copy data. It is, though, not obligatory as an app can be used for cloning without even touching the mobile.
Image from WhatsApp
As soon as the cloning process is over, WhatsApp chats seem to be accessed on the new phone by using one of the recent backups stored on the cloud, both on Google Drive as well as on iCloud. It depends on which kind of phone a user is using. The app sends a temporary code through SMS or phone call if any user wants to register a new account. You can also have two-step verification, with a passcode comprising of 6 words to prevent misuse.
Also, most importantly WhatsApp chats are encoded on users’ mobiles. But the case is not similar to backups present in WhatsApp as those aren’t encoded by Facebook.
In the FAQs as posted by the company, the company answered about the backups that are tied to the mobile number and Google account used to create it. It indicates that not anyone can extract your important chats from the backup. Nevertheless, phone cloning allows chat transfer from a fresh backup. Huawei has provided a feature wherein users can move WhatsApp data from the backup using the fore loaded mobile Clone app.
WhatsApp can guard your messages with the help of end-to-end encryption so that just you and the person you are having a conversation can read what is sent in the text, and no one other than you and the person can access it, not even WhatsApp. It’s significant to acknowledge that people sign up on WhatsApp using their mobile numbers, and the App doesn’t have access to your messages. WhatsApp follows rules provided by operating system manufacturers for on-device storage and the makers reassure people and take advantage of all the features related to security like strong passwords or biometric IDs to avert third parties from knowing about your content.
