WhatsApp推出新的隐私功能以保护通话中的IP地址

Meta-owned WhatsApp is officially rolling out a new privacy feature in its messaging service called "Protect IP Address in Calls" that masks users' IP addresses to other parties by relaying the calls through its servers.

Meta旗下的WhatsApp正式推出了一项名为“在通话中保护IP地址”的隐私功能，该功能通过将通话中继到其服务器来掩盖用户的IP地址，以防其他方看到。

"Calls are end-to-end encrypted, so even if a call is relayed through WhatsApp servers, WhatsApp cannot listen to your calls," the company said in a statement shared with The Hacker News.

公司在与The Hacker News分享的一份声明中表示：“通话是端到端加密的，因此即使通话通过WhatsApp服务器中继，WhatsApp也无法监听您的通话。”

The core idea is to make it harder for bad actors in the call to infer a user's location by securely relaying the connection through WhatsApp servers. However, a tradeoff to enabling the privacy option is a slight dip in call quality.

核心思想是通过WhatsApp服务器安全中继连接，使通话中的不良行为者更难推断用户的位置。然而，启用隐私选项的一个权衡是通话质量略微下降。

Viewed in that light, it's akin to Apple's iCloud Private Relay, which adds an anonymity layer by routing users' Safari browsing sessions through two secure internet relays.

从这个角度来看，这类似于苹果的iCloud Private Relay，通过将用户的Safari浏览会话通过两个安全互联网中继进行匿名化处理。

It's worth noting that the "Protect IP Address in Calls" feature has been under development since at least late August 2023, as reported earlier by WABetaInfo.

值得注意的是，“在通话中保护IP地址”功能自2023年8月下旬以来一直在开发中，这是WABetaInfo早些时候报道的。

"With this feature enabled, all your calls will be relayed through WhatsApp's servers, ensuring that other parties in the call cannot see your IP address and subsequently deduce your general geographical location," WhatsApp said.

WhatsApp表示：“启用此功能后，所有通话将通过WhatsApp的服务器进行中继，确保通话中的其他方看不到您的IP地址，因此无法推断您的一般地理位置。”

"This new feature provides an additional layer of privacy and security particularly geared towards our most privacy-conscious users."

这一新功能提供了一层额外的隐私和安全性，特别面向我们最注重隐私的用户。

The feature builds upon a previously announced privacy feature referred to as "Silence Unknown Callers," which aims to not only protect users from unwanted contact but also minimize the risk of zero-click attacks and spyware.

该功能建立在之前宣布的名为“Silence Unknown Callers”的隐私功能基础上，旨在保护用户免受不受欢迎的联系人的骚扰，同时最小化零点击攻击和间谍软件的风险。

WhatsApp's implementation of silenced calls involves the use of a custom protocol that's designed to reduce the processing of attacker-controlled data by incorporating what's called a privacy token.

WhatsApp的被静音呼叫实现了使用一种自定义协议，该协议旨在通过引入所谓的隐私令牌来减少受攻击者控制的数据的处理。

"When a call is placed, the caller includes the privacy token of the recipient in the protocol message," the company explained. "Next, the server checks the token's validity along with a few other factors to determine if the intended recipient allows this sender to ring them.

公司解释说：“在进行呼叫时，呼叫方在协议消息中包含了接收方的隐私令牌。接下来，服务器会检查令牌的有效性以及其他一些因素，以确定打算的接收方是否允许此发送方给他们打电话。”

"Crucially, for our user's privacy, the server does not learn anything about the exact relationship between the caller and the recipient from the token. With our design of this feature, calling becomes a much less attractive vector for attackers."

关于我们用户的隐私至关重要，服务器不会从令牌中了解呼叫方和接收方之间的确切关系。通过我们设计的这一功能，呼叫对攻击者来说变得不再那么具吸引力。”