Will end to end encryption stop hackers on Messenger?

Facebook Messenger just announced that its end to end encryption feature is available for everyone, now. It means that secure conversations are a part of the update. Users can have protected conversations without being monitored by hackers, government agencies and Facebook itself. Messenger’s new security feature comes in the form of “secret conversations”. The option is available by clicking on user name in a regular chat. It has to be activated after which users can normally converse with the option of a self-destruct timer on the messages. The self-destruct timer is available from five seconds to a day.

end to end encryption protects privacy

The feature is still under development. The initial developing started in July. Users cannot send videos or GIFS through it but sticker sharing is possible. There is a little catch, the feature is available only if both users have the latest version of messenger. End to end encryption has to be turned on which means that it will only be applied when users ask for it. This is very similar to Telegram and Google Allo. The conversations are only accessible on a single device. Users can also delete secret conversations stored on their device from the profile setting page.

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Whatsapp rolled this feature out in April 2016. Various other apps such as Telegram, Wire and Signal also have end to end encryption that differs in their degree of user-friendliness. End to end encryption means that the conversations are secure and there is no third party reading the chat. It ensures privacy and gives the government zero access to user private information. The cryptographic keys need special decryption logs by telecom providers, internet providers and the company that runs the messaging device to have access to the conversation. It also secures data on devices through key generation. This is a very viable counter to third party hacking.

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