Zoom plans to offer end-to-end encryption to free, paying customers

The company will also be using AES 256 GCM transport encryption as its default, which it describes as "one of the strongest encryption standards in use today"

Zoom on Wednesday announced its offer allowing users of its videoconferencing software to enable end-to-end encryption of calls starting with beta next month.
The feature will be coming for both, paid as well to free users, and will be a toggle switch any call admin can turn on or disable, in the event, they want to allow traditional phone lines or older conference room phones to join, reported The Verge.

"To make this possible, Free/Basic users seeking access to E2EE will participate in a one-time process that will prompt the user for additional pieces of information, such as verifying a phone number via a text message," The Verge quoted the company's blog post as saying in line to prevent the app from using for any unlawful activity.

"Many leading companies perform similar steps on account creation to reduce the mass creation of abusive accounts. We are confident that by implementing risk-based authentication, in combination with our current mix of tools -- including our Report a User function -- we can continue to prevent and fight abuse," the post further read.

The company will also be using AES 256 GCM transport encryption as its default, which it describes as "one of the strongest encryption standards in use today."

However, it's not clear when the feature will launch, but the beta is arriving in July and Zoom intends to have some level of permissions, so thataccount administrators can disable or enable it at the account or group level.

Microsoft rolls out end-to-end encryption option for Skype: Report

The new encryption feature could be activated from a "New Private Conversation" option that is now part of the "Compose" menu or from the recipient's profile.

Microsoft has reportedly rolled out end-to-end encryption for private conversations on Skype that would ensure that the chat content between two people is hidden in both, the chat list and the notifications.

This feature comes after months of testing and is now available for all users on Skype iOS, Android, Linux, Mac and Windows, tech website MSPoweruser.com reported late on Monday.

Microsoft is yet to confirm the development.

The new encryption feature could be activated from a "New Private Conversation" option that is now part of the "Compose" menu or from the recipient's profile.

Users could participate in only one private conversation from a single device at a time and on switching the conversation to other devices, the messages they send and receive would be tied to the device they would be using at the time, the report added.

In January, Microsoft said they would offer the encryption feature for audio calls, text messaging and image, audio and video file transmissions.

Except for making the communication channel secure, end-to-end encryption also ensures that messages stored on servers could only be read by those involved in the communications.

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