Meta has officially started implementing The support for encryption end-to-end (E2EE) in Messenger for personal calls and one-to-one personal messages by default, calling it the “most significant milestone yet.”
After WhatsApp, end-to-end encryption (E2EE) finally arrives on Messenger
“Loredana Crisan, vice president of Messenger at Meta, said in a post shared on X (formerly known as Twitter): “This is not a routine security update – we have rebuilt the application from scratch, in close consultation with privacy and security experts“.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has announced a “Privacy-oriented vision for social networks” in 2019, said the update comes “after years of work” redesigning the platform; it’s important Note that E2EE for group conversations in Messenger is still in the testing phase.
Encrypted chats were first introduced in Messenger as an optional feature called “secret conversations” in 2016 and also Meta’s Instagram supports E2EE for messages and calls, but it is “only available in some areas” and is not activated by default.
“The added layer of security provided by end-to-end encryption means the contents of your messages and calls with friends and family are protected from the moment they leave your device until they reach the recipient’s device“Crisan said.
In August 2023, the social media giant has stated to be in line for widely enable the functionality by the end of this year (end of 2023, therefore)but stressed that it needed to restructure Messenger to ensure that its servers cannot process or validate messages passing through them.
To that end, it not only updated over 100 features to incorporate encryption, but also developed new ways for users to manage their message history between devices, such as setting a PIN, building a new encrypted storage system called Labyrinth.
PIN is used as a recovery method after chat update in Messenger to help users restore their messages in case they lose, change or add a device to their account.
“Labyrinth – a new encrypted message storage protocol – aims to address a number of these challenges by allowing users to store their messages on the server, while maintaining strong privacy“, the company said in its statement white paper.
The last one declaration Meta’s encryption is likely to reignite the ongoing debate about privacy and the ability of law enforcement to conduct investigations and obtain evidence of criminal activity. A UK government campaign in September 20203 argued that Meta’s plans to encrypt its platforms would allow child abusers to “hide in the darkness”.
The benefits of End-to-End encryption on Messenger and Instagram
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) on Messenger and Instagram offers several security and privacy benefits for users:
- Privacy protection: E2EE guarantees that only the sender and recipient of a message can read its content; no intermediary, not even the service provider (such as Meta), can access the transmitted data.
- Security of conversations: End-to-end encryption protects conversations from any eavesdropping or unauthorized access, therefore Sensitive information is safe during transit between user devices and the service’s servers.
- Protection against external interference: Encryption prevents third parties, such as hackers or governments, from intercepting and deciphering messages and this helps protect users from potential security threats.
- User authentication: E2EE helps ensure the authenticity of users involved in a conversation and this means that only authorized people can participate and access encrypted messages.
- Secure content on server: With end-to-end encryption, even service provider servers (like Meta) cannot decipher or interpret messages; this provides an additional layer of protection for content stored on servers.
- Reduced risk of abuse: End-to-end encryption can reduce the risk of abuse, such as unauthorized access to messages or unwanted monitoring of conversations by third parties.
- Preservation of group privacy: Although E2EE for group chats is currently still being tested on Messengeronce implemented, will help maintain privacy in group conversations.
- Compliance with the Vision Privacy-oriented: For Meta, which announced a privacy-focused vision in 2019, The implementation of end-to-end encryption reflects the commitment to ensuring a more secure and private experience for users.
In short, end-to-end encryption on Messenger and Instagram greatly improves the security of online communications, providing a safer and more secure environment for users who wish to maintain the confidentiality of their conversations.
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