{"id":26745,"date":"2016-07-09T06:35:12","date_gmt":"2016-07-09T06:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/facebook-to-add-end-to-end-encryption-to\/"},"modified":"2016-07-09T06:35:04","modified_gmt":"2016-07-09T06:35:04","slug":"facebook-to-add-end-to-end-encryption-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/facebook-to-add-end-to-end-encryption-to\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook to add end-to-end encryption to Messenger app"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Facebook’s “Messenger” app will be latest in string of apps provided with encrypted services.}<\/p>\n

Facebook has started to introduce a setting to its “Messenger” app that provides users with end-to-end encryption, meaning messages can only be read on the device to which they were sent. <\/p>\n

The encrypted feature is currently only available in a beta form to a small number of users for testing, but it will become available to all of its estimated 900-million users by late summer or in the fall, the social media giant said. <\/p>\n

The feature will be called “secret conversations”. <\/p>\n

“That means the messages are intended just for you and the other person – not anyone else, including us,” Facebook announced in a blog post.<\/p>\n

The feature will also allow users to set a timer, causing messages to expire after the allotted amount of time passes. <\/p>\n

Facebook is the latest to join an ongoing trend of encryption among apps.<\/p>\n

Back in April, Whatsapp, which is owned by Facebook and has more than a billion users, strengthened encryption settings so that messages were only visible on the sending and recipient devices.<\/p>\n

Whatsapp had been providing limited encryption services since 2014. <\/p>\n

The company says it is now using a powerful form of encryption to protect the security of photos, videos, group chats and voice calls in addition to the text messages sent by more than a billion users around the globe.<\/p>\n

{{Controversy}}<\/p>\n

Encryption has become a hotly debated subject, with some US authorities warning that criminals and armed groups can use it to hide their tracks.<\/p>\n

“WhatsApp has always prioritised making your data and communication as secure as possible,” a blog post by WhatsApp co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton said, announcing the change at the time. <\/p>\n

Like Facebook has until now, Google and Yahoo use less extensive encryption to protect emails and messages while they are in transit, to prevent outsiders from eavesdropping.<\/p>\n

Apple uses end-to-end encryption for its iMessage service, but some experts say WhatsApp’s method may be more secure because it provides a security code that senders and recipients can use to verify a message came from someone they know – and not from a hacker posing as a friend.<\/p>\n

\"Facebook<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Facebook’s “Messenger” app will be latest in string of apps provided with encrypted services.} Facebook has started to introduce a setting to its “Messenger” app that provides users with end-to-end encryption, meaning messages can only be read on the device to which they were sent. The encrypted feature is currently only available in a beta […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[101],"byline":[2474],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-26745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-technology","tag-internationl","byline-al-jazeera"],"bylines":[{"id":2474,"name":"AL JAZEERA","slug":"al-jazeera","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2474,"name":"AL JAZEERA","slug":"al-jazeera","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26745\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26745"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=26745"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=26745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}