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Skype finally getting end-to-end encryption
Since its inception, Skype has been notable for its secretive, proprietary algorithm. It's also long had a complicated relationship with encryption: encryption is used by the Skype protocol, but the service has never been clear exactly how that encryption was implemented or exactly which privacy and security features it offers.
That changes today in a big way. The newest Skype preview now supports the Signal protocol: the end-to-end encrypted protocol already used by WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Google Allo, and, of course, Signal. Skype Private Conversations will support text, audio calls, and file transfers, with end-to-end encryption that Microsoft, Signal, and, it's believed, law enforcement agencies cannot eavesdrop on.
Presently, Private Conversations are only available in the Insider builds of Skype.
Also at The Register, The Verge, and Wired.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by mmh on Friday January 12 2018, @06:29PM (3 children)
Yes, lets all trust Microsoft to provide us with End-to-End encryption. The same Microsoft that is known to work closely with the NSA and participates in the PRISM program.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_%28surveillance_program%29 [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSAKEY [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 12 2018, @06:37PM
yeah i was going to say
i wasnt sure if this post was a joke or serious or somewhere in between
i think half the users here dont know why it'd be a joke so i am glad you posted the links.
that day when skype went down with a major outage for the first time since MS took it over...anyone that was anyone knew what that meant
this just means now you are to be prevented from seeing what your computer is sending and receving, and they're calling it privacy. yay freedom
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday January 12 2018, @08:45PM
> Yes, lets all trust Microsoft to provide us with End-to-End encryption.
Well, considering that they are unable to do an
if processor type = AMD
then return
else apply meltdown&spectre patches
I am hopeful that their end to end encryption is safe. Because it has backdoors, but they probably do not work. Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by malice and incompetence.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1) by bobthecimmerian on Saturday January 13 2018, @01:31AM
Their headquarter are in the US, do you really think they could tell the NSA no?
I'm not saying I like Microsoft. I don't. But this is something no company can escape. If you want reliably private communications, you need open source that's been audited by security researchers.