Textual content messages despatched between iPhones and Android gadgets will quickly profit from end-to-end encryption (E2EE), after the GSM Affiliation (GSMA) yesterday printed new specs for the Wealthy Communication Providers (RCS) protocol that embody assist for cross-platform E2EE.
RCS is a long-standing effort to allow SMS-style cross-platform communications with richer options, reminiscent of group messaging, typing indicators, learn receipts, and file-sharing — much like what messaging apps reminiscent of WhatsApp present.
Whereas many Android handset makers had adopted RCS by way of the years, Apple was the principle outlier till it lastly succumbed with the introduction of iOS 18 final 12 months. Many of the core RCS options have been obtainable for cross-platform messaging since then, however E2EE has hitherto been lacking — till now.
Promoting level
E2EE, for the uninitiated, is an information encryption methodology that ensures solely the sender and the recipient of a message can learn its content material. For tech firms, this privacy-preserving promise is a significant promoting level, because it assures customers that their messages are secure from snooping. Apple has supplied E2EE because it launched iMessage again in 2011, although after all that solely labored between iOS gadgets, whereas WhatsApp accomplished its E2EE rollout in 2016 (and, once more, it solely labored between WhatsApp customers).
Google, for its half, has beforehand added E2EE to its personal Messages app, however this was its personal proprietary endeavor separate to the RCS protocol itself.
Encrypting messages throughout not solely totally different purchasers but in addition totally totally different platforms comes with its personal distinctive challenges, which is the place the GSMA’s common profile enters the fray, offering a standardized specification for constant, interoperable RCS messaging throughout gadgets, networks, and operators.
Based mostly on the cryptographic Messaging Layer Safety (MLS) protocol, the brand new E2EE mechanism within the RCS Common Profile 3.0 is a crucial piece of the interoperable jigsaw, one that may finally allow iPhone and Android customers to speak securely by way of their system’s native messaging app.
“That signifies that RCS would be the first large-scale messaging service to assist interoperable E2EE between consumer implementations from totally different suppliers,” GSMA technical director Tom Van Pelt mentioned in a assertion. “Along with different distinctive security measures reminiscent of SIM-based authentication, E2EE will present RCS customers with the best degree of privateness and safety for stronger safety from scams, fraud and different safety and privateness threats.”
