E2EE Web Messaging Application Using Cryptography Techniques

Abstract

Instant messaging services on mobile devices, such as WhatsApp, have become immensely popular, largely due to their end-to-end encryption (E2EE) feature, which ensures user privacy. However, this has raised concerns for some governments who argue that E2EE makes it challenging to combat terrorism and organized crime. These governments have expressed the desire for a \"backdoor\" to access messages in cases of credible threats to national security. However, WhatsApp users have strongly opposed this idea, citing concerns about privacy infringement and potential exploitation by hackers. This paper presents the advantages of maintaining E2EE in WhatsApp and argues against granting governments a \"backdoor\" to access user messages. It highlights the benefits of encryption in safeguarding consumer security and privacy, while also acknowledging the challenges it poses to public safety and national security. In the realm of internet messaging security, cryptography plays a crucial role in protecting networks. This paper aims to raise awareness among common computer users about the importance of email security and its requirements. Several cryptographic techniques have been developed to achieve secure communication, and the proposed messaging system ensures security in accordance with standard security models.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

The world is ever changing due to the advancement in the realm of science and technology, and these days it seems hard to escape the presence of technology in our daily lives. Since Smartphones became popular, many messaging services have been launched. WhatsApp, which has more than 1.3 billion users in over180 countries today, is a free messaging service owned by Facebook Inc., and has become more popular than others. WhatsApp works with internet connectivity and helps its users to stay InTouch with friends and relatives on their contact list. Apart from making its users get, and stay connected with each other, it also helps them to create groups, send images, videos, documents, and audios. As more and more people use WhatsApp as a means of communication, the importance of securing its users’ business or private communications has become more imperative [2].

Cryptography provides number of security goals to ensure of privacy of data, on-alteration of data and so on. The idea of encryption and encryption algorithm by which we can encode our data in secret code and not to be able readable by hackers or unauthorized person even it is hacked.

The evolution of encryption is moving towards a future of endless form of possibilities. As it is impossible to stop hacking, we can secure our sensitive data even it is hacked using encryption techniques and which protecting the information security.

In this paper we present a research paper on cryptographic techniques based on multiple algorithm and which is suitable for many applications where security is main concern. We have demonstrated the same through a Web Based messaging application called “DM-ME”.  We have used latest tech stack for both Front-End as well as Back-End.

II. NEED

The need for end-to-end encryption in messaging has become increasingly important due to the convenience and speed with which messages can be transmitted globally, regardless of geographical distance. In today's world, where national security relies heavily on the internet and its applications, cryptography plays a crucial role in ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of message contents. Cryptography provides various security goals, such as protecting the privacy of data, preventing unauthorized alteration of data, and verifying the authenticity of message senders and receivers. Encryption algorithms allow data to be encoded in secret codes that are unreadable by hackers or unauthorized individuals, even if the data is compromised.

The use of encryption in message communications, however, faces challenges such as the complexity of current email encryption solutions and the management of encryption keys. Nevertheless, encryption techniques are essential for promoting information security, particularly in sensitive communications such as those involving national security, business secrets, and personal data.

 Furthermore, encryption is a powerful tool that empowers individuals to maintain control over their own data and protect their privacy. End-to-end encryption, in particular, ensures that only the intended recipients can access the messages, and not even the service providers have access to the decrypted content. This provides users with a sense of trust and confidence in the security of their communications

III. LITERATURE SURVEY

IV. EXISTING SYSTEM

1. Initialize Signal Server Store before login.
2. On user Login, Axios calls are made to verify if the user exists, returning Users details as an object.
3. The Signal Protocol Manager is then initialized for each logged-in user, at App.js.
4. After login, the Chat Window appears, with two sub-components, Contact List and Message Box.
5. The Chat Window makes an Axios call to the server, to fetch all contacts except the logged-in one and which are not equal to the role of the logged-in user.

6. It then displays the contacts in the Contact List component.

7. A user can select a contact to Chat with; then the selected user Id is sent to the chat window to display its messages (if any) in the message box component, and for further communication.

8. When user hits enter to send a message, it is first encrypted using Signal, and then sent to the server using Web Socket.

9. On receiving a message, it is checked by the client if it is its message. If not then it is sent to Signal for decryption, else the last message is used.

10. The chats in the message box (decrypted) and local storage (encrypted) are updated with new message.

V. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The Diffie-Hellman parameters play a crucial role in manipulating the Key Derivation Function (KDF) chain to reset the sending and receiving chains of both Alice and Bob, thereby synchronizing them once again. This ensures that if a key is compromised, the secrecy can be re-established from that point onward. For instance, Bob can send his Diffie-Hellman public key (dh2) to Alice's Diffie-Hellman ratchet, which will reset the sending and receiving chains on both ends. Additionally, a key practice in end-to-end encryption is to immediately and securely delete the decrypted messages after they are read, ensuring that the endpoints are safeguarded against future attacks.

This approach establishes robust end-to-end encryption, where even the system designers themselves cannot access the keys or messages. In the event that hackers or intermediaries gain access to any messages and are able to decode them by breaking the encryption, they will only be able to read that specific message, as each message is encrypted with a unique key. This is a significant advantage of the double ratchet mechanism, as it limits the potential damage of a security breach to a single message, ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of other messages exchanged within the system.

In conclusion, the use of Extended Diffie-Hellman parameters (X3DH) and the double ratchet mechanism in end-to-end encryption protocols provides a strong layer of security that protects against unauthorized access to messages and keys.

Proper implementation of these techniques ensures that even the system designers cannot access the encrypted data, maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of communications.

Conclusion

Thus, through this application we have demonstrated the implementation of multiple encryption techniques sandwiched together in order to achieve an advanced E2EE. This technique ensures protection against cyber-attacks and hackers trying to gain access to sensitive or personal information. This application does not keep any record of user information. It also prevents any 3rd party organization from gaining access to user information even on government orders. It is evident that if an intruder gains access to the private keys from a low-level device, they would not only be able to record the communication but also send messages on behalf of any party. This is due to the fact that in many devices, the data that is supposed to be erased is not completely wiped out, giving the intruder low-level access. In conclusion, the use of end-to-end encryption in messaging is crucial for protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of messages in today\'s digital world. While there may be challenges in implementing encryption solutions, the benefits in terms of information security and privacy outweigh the drawbacks. Therefore, encryption techniques should continue to be embraced and advanced to ensure secure and private communication in the face of evolving threats in the digital landscape.

References

[1] Joseph Amalraj, Dr. J. John Raybin Jose, “A SURVEY PAPER ON CRYPTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES”, International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing, Vol. 5, Issue. 8, August 2016. [2] Ganguly, M., “WhatsApp Design Feature Means Some Encrypted Messages Could Be Read by Third Party” ,2017 [3] Mohamed Nabeel, Qatar Computing Research Institute,” The Many Faces of End-to-End Encryption and Their Security Analysis”, IEEE 1st International Conference on Edge Computing, 2017. [4] Deepak Garg, Seema Verma, “Improvement over public key cryptographic algorithm”, IEEE International Advance Computing Conference, 2009. [5] Mohit D. Singanjude, Prof. R. Dalvi, “Secure transmitting of data using RSA public key implemented with Vedic method”, Volume 5–Issue 10, 675-677, 2016. [6] S. Blake-Wilson, D. Johnson, and A. Menezes, “Key agreement protocols and their security analysis,” in Cryptography and Coding: 6th IMA International Conference Cirencester, UK, December 17–19, 1997 Proceedings, 1997. [7] Prasoon Varshney, Zubair Beg, Vishal Kumar Shaw and Dr. Ashish Chopra,” SECURED END-TO-END ENCRYPTION USING X3DH PROTOCOL WITH DOUBLE RATCHET ALGORITHM AND ITS LIMITATIONS”, April 2022 [8] T. Perrin, “The Double Ratchet Algorithm (work in progress),” 2016. [9] https://www.whatsapp.com/security/WhatsApp-Security-Whitepaper.pdf [10] https://signal.org/docs/specifications/x3dh/ [11] https://signal.org/docs/specifications/doubleratchet/

Copyright

Copyright © 2023 Harshvardhan Bawake, Saideep Cholke, Atharv Dhole, Ankit Jadhav, Prof. Aarti Bhise. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.