![]() ![]() Secret conversations are slated to become available to all Messenger users over the course of the summer, with access expanding to all by early September. The partnership with Open Whisper Systems is a natural progression for Facebook - WhatsApp, a chat platform owned by Facebook, also uses the Signal Protocol for encrypted messaging. Messenger’s secret conversation feature is built on the Signal Protocol developed by Open Whisper Systems. We feel like the approach for us, given how people use our product, is really the right one and the security experts out there have been very supportive of the approach we’ve taken.” For those types of things, you want to have a little bit more peace of mind. “It’s that extra layer that you’ll want for those special conversations where you send a Social Security number, a username or password, checking account information for a payment, medical data of some kind. Why would you need end-to-end encryption?” Marcus asked. Like if you’re following the Euro 2016 game right now and you’re chatting - so people are just having fun and they’re sending stickers and doing all these things where you want the full-fledged functionality and you’re moving from your computer to your mobile. “The reality is you probably don’t need end-to-end encryption for all the conversations you’re having. Facebook also notes that “rich content” like GIFs, videos and payments won’t work in secret conversations. When Google announced that Allo would only offer end-to-end encryption as an opt-in feature, Edward Snowden tweeted that it was “ unsafe” and one of Google’s own security engineers wrote in a blog post he would push for end-to-end encryption to become the default (he later edited out that portion of the post).īut Marcus says end-to-end encryption needs to remain optional so that users can access other popular Messenger features, read their messages on multiple devices, and access a backup of their chats if they lose their device - and that security experts Facebook has consulted with about its end-to-end encryption implementation have been sympathetic to those needs. Like Google’s chat app Allo, end-to-end encryption will not be enabled by default in Messenger, and that decision may draw criticism from the security community. Secret conversations will bring stronger security to some of Messenger’s nearly 1 billion users - but only if they turn it on. The combination of end-to-end encryption and a message countdown clock “will truly empower people to have any type of conversation they want to on Messenger,” he added. “We wanted to make Messenger your primary messaging platform, and while we currently were already using a lot of security to ensure that your messages are safe and confidential, we felt that we needed to go one more extra step with this new mode,” Marcus explained. Facebook’s vice president of messaging products David Marcus told TechCrunch that the addition of end-to-end encryption is intended to help Messenger become everyone’s go-to app. Secret conversation mode will only be available on iOS and Android, not in, Facebook chat, or the desktop Messenger app - at least for now. Facebook released technical details about its implementation of secret conversations in a white paper ( PDF). ![]() Once the time runs out, the message will vanish from the devices of all users in the conversation. In secret conversations, Messenger will allow users to set an expiration date for a message so that it won’t be visible in the conversation forever. Messenger has also taken steps to make sure that chats remain secure, even if a user’s device gets lost or stolen. However, end-to-end encryption boxes out law enforcement and even Facebook itself from reading users’ chats, ensuring that their conversations remain private. It’s a security option that’s been a long time coming for Facebook, which has considered making end-to-end encryption available for several months. The so-called “secret conversations” debuted today will be only visible to the sender and the reader, which means Facebook can’t enable some of the chatbot and payment features that are normally a part of the Messenger experience. Messenger will begin to offer an end-to-end encryption feature to a limited test group of users today. That’s why Facebook is finally adding an option for users to encrypt their chats in Messenger. As people become more and more concerned about security, being the best messaging app means being the most secure. Facebook Messenger wants to be your primary messaging app. ![]()
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