After WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger to get end-to-end encryption soon.

[Sourabhs20]

Facebook moves to make Messenger chats private with end- to-end encryption

After WhatsApp, it is now time for Facebook
Messenger to go private. Facebook, which
also owns WhatsApp, on Friday said that it is
rolling out a beta version of Messenger app
that will support end-to-end encryption for
chats. This means that the messages sent
through this new version of Messenger will be
private and not even government agencies or
Facebook will be able to decipher them.
The encryption used for the private
Messenger chats will require unique keys to
be decrypted. These keys will be hosted
locally on a user's phone, which in other
words means that even Facebook will not
have the ability to decrypt the messages.
Earlier, WhatsApp had rolled out the similar
functionality for over billion users. The
Messenger has over 900 million active users.
Although in the beta phase, the feature that
supports private and encrypted messages will
be rolled out only to a very small set of
users.
"It's table stakes in the industry now for
messaging apps to offer this to people,"
Messenger product manager Tony Leach told
the Wired . "We wanted to make sure
we�??re doing what we can to make
messaging private and secure."
However, there are some key differences
between how the Facebook is implementing
encryption to Messenger and how WhatsApp
team has done it. Only the text messages will
be supported for private chats on Messenger,
which is different from WhatsApp that also
uses it secure images or videos.
Also, unlike the WhatsApp encryption that is
available to all users as a default feature,
the private chats on the Messenger will be
opt in. So, if users wish to have the private
conversation, away from the prying eyes of
cyber criminals or cyber sleuths employed by
governments, they will have to first enable
the feature.
In the recent times, especially after Edward
Snowden's revelation that several
governments across the world are carrying
out mass surveillance of web users, the tech
industry has moved to imp0lement encryption
in its services. Many more websites nowadays
use HTTPS while both Apple and Google have
enabled local, in other words almost
unbreakable, encryption in iPhones and
Android devices.
With companies using strong encryption in
their services and products, government
agencies have argued that the trend would
be detrimental to their ability to fight crime
and terrorism. In India, recently there was a
petition filed in the Supreme Court against
WhatsApp because it is now probably using
encryption that is not legal in India.
However, for now Supreme Court has refused
to ban WhatsApp in India and has instead
asked the petitioner to approach TRAI to
with his grievances.

Facebook moves to make Messenger chats private with end-to-end encryption

 

[Saj 007]

After WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger to get end-to-end encryption soon.

NEW DELHI: After introducing end-to-end encryption to WhatsApp, Facebook is now planning to bring it to Messenger soon. The social media giant announced today that it is testing a new feature Secret Conversations to support end-to-end encryption on demand.
Unlike WhatsApp, in Facebook Messenger end-to-end encryption will not be turned on by default. While chatting on Messenger, if the sender wants to say something sensitive, they can opt for the "Secret Conversation" feature and select a suitable message expiry time which can range between 5 seconds and over 6 hours. The message will be available to the receiver during the selected time frame only. It will automatically get deleted after it is seen by receiver when the time expires.

"Our technology uses the Signal Protocol developed by Open Whisper Systems," said Facebook in an official post.

End-to-end encryption is mainly meant for texts. Facebook currently is not supporting multimedia content like GIFs or videos or other features.
Explaining the reason for making Secret Conversations as an optional feature, Facebook said, "That's because many people want Messenger to work when you switch between devices, such as a tablet, desktop computer or phone. Secret conversations can only be read on one device and we recognize that experience may not be right for everyone."
In April, Facebook-owned WhatsApp messaging app introduced end-to-end encryption for all its users by default. This means that only a message's sender and recipient can read messages, stopping them from being intercepted on their journey.

After WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger to get end-to-end encryption soon - Times of India