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Comment by srhngpr | Hacker News Reader

I keep hearing this, but is there an actual reliable source that confirms it? If it were that easy, then I could technically restore anyone's GDrive backup from WhatsApp on my Android phone simply if I got access to the same Google account, but I believe this is not possible as you have to also verify the phone number via SMS.

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They say it themselves

https://faq.whatsapp.com/android/chats/about-google-drive-ba...

"Media and messages you back up aren't protected by WhatsApp end-to-end encryption while in Google Drive."

That statement is correct. E2E encryption is only in effect between two devices communicating with each other. The moment the messages leave the app in any capacity (e.g., screenshots, backup, forwarded to another convo/contact, etc.) it is not longer protected by E2E encryption.

The backup file itself that is uploaded to iCloud/GDrive is encrypted; see: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/136072/how-can-...

It used to be encrypted. However, Google and Whatsapp have a deal that states Whatsapp backups dont count towards drive storage quotas. It became plaintext (or at least unencrypted after that)

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/whatsapp-google-drive-back...

From 2018 but also, this is referring to moving away from E2E encryption, which is true. However, the backup file that gets uploaded to Google Drive (Android) or iCloud (iOS) is encrypted (i.e., Google and Apple cannot read its content). See: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/136072/how-can-...

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