A collaboration tool needs to make it as easy as possible to share data with others while also preventing malicious agents from spying on information. As such, Microsoft is ensuring nobody snoops on your Teams conversations by announcing the future release of end-to-end encryption.

Safer Speaking on Microsoft Teams

While Microsoft hasn't announced this feature with huge fanfare, it has added an entry for it on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap. The Roadmap is where Microsoft shows off all the new features it plans to add to its products, so people know what's coming down the pipeline.

We've delved into the Roadmap several times in the past on the hunt for brand new features, and this time we're taking a look at feature ID 70780. This planned feature is called "Microsoft Teams: End-to-end encryption option for Teams 1:1 VoIP Calls" and is described as so:

Teams will support an option to use end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for ad hoc 1:1 Teams VoIP calls, providing an additional option for conducting sensitive online conversations. To support customer security and compliance requirements, IT will have full control of who can use E2EE in the organization.

E2EE is particularly important for privacy because only the people engaged in the conversation can decrypt the data they send to one another. If E2EE is implemented, not even Microsoft can see what Teams users are talking about.

Of course, this does mean that an organization won't see what two employees are talking about, which may be undesirable to it. That's why Microsoft added the extra part to say that the IT team has control over if the employees can use E2EE or not.

E2EE is complex, and we don't nearly have enough room to talk about how it works here. However, we did write a guide on what end-to-end encryption is, so give it a read if you're wondering why a service provider can't read the messages it helped encrypt in the first place.

Keeping Things Secure With End-to-End Encryption

E2EE is exceptional at maintaining the privacy of two parties, making it a great way to protect what needs to be hidden from prying eyes. Microsoft plans to add this encryption method to Teams so that companies can exchange sensitive information without fear of leaks.

2021 seems to be an excellent year for Teams. Not only has it received some stellar updates already, but a lot more are planned in the future that is bound to make Teams a force to be reckoned with in the remote working space.

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