Zoom is planning to offer end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to all free and paying users, the video conferencing provider announced on Wednesday. The firm will be launching the early beta of the E2EE feature in July 2020. Earlier this month, Zoom said that free users won't get end-to-end encryption in a bid to weed out illegal activity on the platform. However, this backpedaling comes after consultation with civil liberties organizations, child safety advocates, and encryption experts, the firm said.
While all users will be able to use AES 256 GCM protection as their default encryption setting, it may be noted that chats won't be covered. The firm hasn't clarified whether other protocols will be available. For those using PSTN or SIP conference phones, E2EE can cause some issues. Therefore, they may be required to turn off encryption as required.
Free users that want access to E2EE will be required to participate in a one-time verification process, which might include verifying a phone number via a text message. This might finally put the matter to bed, as all users will be finally able to use E2EE, which arguably should have been the part of Zoom's software from the get-go.
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