Following WhatsApp's move to encrypted messages, Facebook recently introduced encryption into its own messaging service, guaranteeing 'secret' conversations between friends on the platform.

What are encrypted conversations?

Encrypted chats are quite useful for those who are in the market to hide chats from partners or governments, but not for those who want to trace them. You can set a timer to have any messages disappear automatically from the conversation by that time but encryption can only be guaranteed using the app and not on Facebook messaging online; they are also only available on the sender and the receiver's devices. Messages can be reported, even for up to a short time after deletion. They will be decrypted and sent to the Facebook help team for review at that point.

Is this a security black hole? 

So what does this mean for law enforcement investigating missing persons, sex offenders, paedophiles or terrorists, or indeed spouses who suspect infidelity? If these messages are truly secret, it means information can be shared in secret, without the threat of interception. 

France and Germany recently called for 'backdoor' access to private chats, as well as legislation forcing companies to comply with law enforcement in terrorist investigations and provide access to conversations. Chat apps like the Russian 'Telegram', as well as WhatsApp and Facebook were mentioned explicitly (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-attacks-france-germany-idUSKCN10Y174).

Iranian hackers found a way into Telegram at the beginning of this month, exposing the names and phone numbers of 15 million Iranian users (http://fortune.com/2016/08/02/telegram-hackers-iran/). This may have been a state- sponsored breach but nonetheless, it is proof the technology is not entirely secure and brings hope that encryption is not the panacea its advocates claim it is.

Countries such as Brazil, Saudi Arabia and the UAE continue to waver over whether to ban the services for the very reason they cannot be intercepted or traced.

Suspect your partner is cheating? Short of hiring a hacker to intercept your partner's conversations, it might be more prudent to gain access to their phone while they are sleeping, like the woman in London who used her husband's thumb to unlock his phone as he slept (http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/700362/Wife-cheating-husband-thumbprint-unlock-phone).