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Verified business accounts

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Re: Verified business accounts

#41

Post by fishywang »

rodorgas wrote: post #40
fishywang wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible to store messages on the servers and be secure at the same time (I'm not saying Telegram in particular is secure). I think it's more because Whatsapp's model is much cheaper on server expenses (they only need to store messages on the server until it's delivered).

It can be secure, but it's less secure by definition. While it's almost impossible to crack some cryptos, it's definitely impossible retrieve data that simply isn't there.

What I'm saying is I don't think Whatsapp designed it to be secure (P2P is more likely a byproduct of their design). They designed it to save server cost. After they are successful, it's straightforward to implement P2P crypto on that design, so they added that feature because they don't store the messages on server anyway.

Re: Verified business accounts

#42

Post by dheera »

stephengillie wrote: post #39
dheera wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can feel free to disagree but I don't believe in the current incarnations of MFA; at least not those done with a phone. Stolen phone = insecure system. Dead batteries or dead SIM = stranded. Biometric MFA, I'm slightly more in support of. I should be able to identify myself to any electronic system I own or control, using only what's in my mind and body, and nothing else. For now I use pretty much only passwords…

Authenticating yourself that way is fine. How do you propose to prevent other people from authenticating as yourself? How entropic are your memorized passwords? How entropic are combination locks? And vulnerable to picking - I've had to pick a 3-dial Realtor lock before in an emergency. It's easy with an aluminum-foil shim and Youtube instructions.

> How entropic are your memorized passwords?

Quite entropic. And I use PBKDF-HMAC-SHA256 to generate other passwords from a master password on any machine I own without having to store or carry a database or keystore.

> How entropic are combination locks?

What is the attack vector here? A lot of key locks are easy to pick. My apartment door's key lock is a lot more insecure than some of the better combination locks out there.

If someone really wants to get in, they can smash the windows. At that point I think having a security camera system or alarm system would be a better investment.

Re: Verified business accounts

#43

Post by fairpx »

I'm not sure if it costs money to have a verified business account but frankly, this is what Twitter should have done. Have paid verified business accounts. I'd easily pay $25+/mo and have a bunch of handy business features and maybe be promoted once in a while to a relevant audience. Missed opportunity.

Re: Verified business accounts

#44

Post by MichaelGG »

BenjiWiebe wrote: post #30
MichaelGG wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're moving slow, probably out of extra caution about scaring off users by commercializing it. It's not like they're unaware of the absolutely massive demand for brands and companies to get into WA. Maybe it's also spam. You can't sign up for Whatsapp without a mobile number - landlines and VoIP mostly do not work to activate.

Google voice numbers work, and show up in contact lists as Grand Central, which makes me think they explicitly intend to support Google voice.

Interesting. I tried that earlier this year and WhatsApp rejected it saying it wasn't a mobile.

Re: Verified business accounts

#45

Post by newscracker »

rodorgas wrote: post #17
sschueller wrote: post #13

WhatsApp is missing out in a big way. In Brazil almost every business has a whatsapp number. Where are the tools to make using whatsApp easier for a business? The fact that I still need my phone around to use the webclient just sucks. Telegram doesn't need it, why does whatsapp?

WhatsApp need it because of the P2P technology. On Telegram, your messages are stored on their servers, so it's less secure, but you can text on multiple devices. I agree that we need business tools. The demand for customer service via WhatsApp where I work is much higher than the ability to a single operator answer them.

To the point, WhatsApp is designed that way. Wire [1], which also has end-to-end encryption of all chats, supports syncing across multiple devices and doesn't have this requirement of a master device. Wire also stores encrypted chats on the server for a limited time, just like WhatsApp does.

[1]: https://wire.com

Re: Verified business accounts

#46

Post by newscracker »

rodorgas wrote: post #40
fishywang wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible to store messages on the servers and be secure at the same time (I'm not saying Telegram in particular is secure). I think it's more because Whatsapp's model is much cheaper on server expenses (they only need to store messages on the server until it's delivered).

It can be secure, but it's less secure by definition. While it's almost impossible to crack some cryptos, it's definitely impossible retrieve data that simply isn't there.

WhatsApp is not strictly P2P and your belief that it doesn't store information on its servers, by claiming "it's definitely impossible retrieve data that simply isn't there", isn't true. It does store encrypted messages on its servers for up to 30 days while it attempts to deliver it. [1]

[1]: https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/#privacy-policy-information-w...

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