How does something like Wickr work, how is the chat encrypted and why can’t it be traced?
In: Technology
The type of encryption used is called public key cryptography.
This type of encryption uses two keys, public and private. The message is encoded using the public key, but can only be deciphered using the private key and public key.
So, when I’m talking with someone, I generate a private and public key pair, and send the public key to everyone I expect to send a message to me. So, the sender of the message cyphers the message using that public key, and when the message gets to me, I use the private key (that only I have) to decypher the message.
An analogy would be if I sent an open box with a lock that only I have the key. People could write the message, put inside the box, close the lock, and send it back to me. If the box is stolen, they can’t open it since they don’t have the key.
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Basically, a new encryption key is created for each conversation, securely exchanged between the ends, and both ends use that unique key. As a result, nobody in the middle, including Wickr themselves can decrypt the messages.
Wickr also strips all the metadata (who, when, etc.) from stuff passing through their servers so they have no records of what happened. If someone subpoenas them they literally don’t have the data.
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