New option for users: Skype introduces encrypted communication

Start a "private conversation": If you as a Skype user selects this new option in the service, you can communicate encrypted with your counterpart. For Skype owner Microsoft has introduced a so-called end-to-end encryption.

This means that the content in the app is visible only to participating users. Not even Skype can recognize what exactly is being sent with their software. Encryption is offered for audio calls, text messages and sent files such as videos, pictures and audio recordings. Video chats can still not be encrypted.

The new feature is also optional, and users must enable it for each conversation. For example, if you look at the profile of the user you want to chat with. There you can then select the "private entertainment" as an option. For encrypted calls a second step is necessary: ​​In the app is in the chat window, which then opens, also a telephone receiver icon, next to a small lock. If you click on it, your encrypted call starts.

Invitation works only with current Skype version

For the encrypted conversation to start, both users must have the latest version of Skype installed. If so, an invitation is sent to the requested conversation participant.

However, several end-to-end encrypted conversations can not be run on Skype, and the new security standard can only be started for one conversation at a time. The feature is available for the PC version of Skype as well as for the apps in Android and iOS.

For example, if you start an encrypted conversation on your mobile phone and then dial into your Skype account on your home computer, you can not see the conversation. This is linked to the device on which it was guided.

Meanwhile, more and more services rely on encrypted communication to provide users with more privacy. In 2016, WhatsApp introduced fully encrypted communication for all users. Facebook relocated a few months later with the "secret conversations" for the messenger.

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