After WhatsApp, Viber too has rolled out end-to-end encryption to all of its users. The company mentioned in a blog post that the feature will be available through its latest update across all devices supported by Viber. All communications including one-to-one chats, group messaging and voice calls will be encrypted under the new update. Users will be notified with a ‘grey padlock icon’ once the encryption feature is live and additionally Viber will assign an individual cryptography key for each device that runs the app. A user can also manually set contacts on his/her phone as ‘trusted’; this will change the padlock color to green. When the padlock color changes to red, it could mean two things—a breach between the communication, indicating a ‘man-in the-middle-attack’, or the contact has just moved to a new device. WhatsApp encryption: This month WhatsApp rolled out end-to-end encryption to all communication on the platform by default, including calls, video calls, group messages, group calls etc. The company had partnered with open source mobile security services provider Open Whisper Systems in 2014, to make use of the latter’s TextSecure protocol for this initiative. WhatsApp crossed 1 billion active users in February. Encryption is not new to messaging as almost every popular messaging platform is increasingly turning on encryption for its users. The encryption policy adopted by both Viber and WhatsApp will bring in a more secure environment for users as communication between two ends will be almost impossible to be intercepted by anyone including the…
