What you need to know
- Zoom has finally started rolling out end-to-end encryption to users globally.
- Just as it had promised, the new end-to-end encryption is available to both free and paid users.
- Zoom's E2EE uses 256-bit AES-GCM encryption.
Zoom's end-to-end encryption is finally available to both free and paid users around the world. Since Zoom has launched end-to-end encryption (E2EE) as a technical preview, it is seeking feedback from users for the next 30 days.
Zoom CISO, Jason Lee, said in a statement:
We're very proud to bring Zoom's new end-to-end encryption to Zoom users globally today. This has been a highly requested feature from our customers, and we're excited to make this a reality. Kudos to our encryption team who joined us from Keybase in May and developed this impressive security feature within just six months.
You will be able to host end-to-end encrypted meetings on Zoom using the desktop client version 5.4.0, the Zoom Android app, and Zoom Rooms. Zoom's end-to-end encryption uses 256-bit AES-GCM encryption, which is also used to secure Zoom meetings by default. Once you enable E2EE for a meeting, only the participants will have access to the encryption key. The encryption key for each Zoom meeting will be generated in the participants' devices, and not by the company's servers. You can find detailed instructions on enabling E2EE in Zoom's Help Center page.
While end-to-end encrypted meetings are definitely a lot more secure, you will not be able to access a few features that are available on regular Zoom meetings. These include cloud recording, live transcription, polling, 1:1 private chat, meeting reactions, and join before host.
