Facebook Messenger gets end-to-end encrypted voice, video calls; Instagram may be next

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Facebook Messenger gets end-to-end encrypted voice, video calls; Instagram may be next

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Facebook today (Aug. xiii) appear it was giving users the option for end-to-finish encryption of vocalisation and video calls made in Messenger, one of the company'southward two instant-messaging apps.

"People expect their messaging apps to be secure and private, and with these new features, nosotros're giving them more command over how private they want their calls and chats to be," wrote Ruth Kricheli, Facebook's director of Messenger product direction, in a company blog post.

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The move comes 5 years after Messenger introduced a similar "Clandestine Conversations" choice to brand 1-to-1 text chats end-to-terminate encrypted if both parties agreed. WhatsApp, which Facebook bought in 2014, implemented full end-to-end encryption in 2016.

"The content of your messages and calls in an end-to-end encrypted conversation is protected from the moment it leaves your device to the moment it reaches the receiver's device," Kricheli explained. "This means that nobody else, including Facebook, can meet or listen to what's sent or said."

Kricheli wrote that Facebook Messenger was too giving users greater control over the longevity of disappearing messages within end-to-end encrypted chats, "from as few as 5 seconds to every bit long as 24 hours."

Only, as a TV commercial would say, that's not all. In the "coming weeks," Kricheli wrote, Messenger would "begin testing end-to-end encryption for group chats, including voice and video calls, for friends and family that already accept an existing chat thread or are already continued."

And, she added, Facebook would be testing similar options for Instagram directly messages.

"We'll as well kick off a limited examination with adults in certain countries that lets them opt-in to end-to-end encrypted messages and calls for one-on-i conversations on Instagram," Kricheli wrote. "Similar to how Messenger works today, you need to accept an existing chat or be following each other to first an cease-to-finish encrypted DM."

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Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom's Guide focused on security and privacy. He has also been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-booty commuter, code monkey and video editor. He's been rooting around in the information-security space for more than 15 years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom's Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown up in random TV news spots and even moderated a panel discussion at the CEDIA domicile-technology conference. You can follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/facebook-messenger-instagram-e2ee-voice-video

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