Viber Introduces End-to-End Encryption and ‘Hidden’ Chats for its Users

Following the footsteps of WhatsApp, another popular messaging service, Viber has introduced end-to-end encryption for its users.

Approximately 250 monthly active users use Viber to send and receive messages. The messaging app also enjoys a total of 711 million users in total, making it one of the most commonly used messaging app amongst the global audience, lagging behind WhatsApp only.

It seems that end-to-encryption has now become the norm as more messaging apps are weighing their options to implement this type of encryption. According to a blog post, written by Chief Operating Officer of Viber, Michael Shumilov the end-to-end encryption mechanism will cover group chats, videos, messages, and one-to-one communication.

With end-to-end encryption now available, neither any third party, nor Viber will have the option to breach into the individuals or group of users engaged in to and fro communication. The third party agents and Viber will only be able to monitor unencrypted communication between the users.   

“Our users will be able to securely communicate across all of their devices through end-o-end encryption.” “We have been working on this for a long time and are proud that our users can confidently use Viber without fear of their messages being intercepted”, he added.

Another interesting development is that the company has introduced ‘hidden chats’ for users, who tend to share information via family tablets.   

Meanwhile, there seems to be some kind of stir. As for Viber’s encryption code, it is based on an open source module. On the other hand, WhatsApp’s encryption code was thoroughly tested by the encryption experts before its implementation. According to Viber’s blog “Our encryption protocol was based on an open source protocol concept, with an extra level of security developed in-house,” Viber added.

Therefore, Viber users need to proceed with caution. The fact is that no one has audited and checked the encryption code implemented by Viber, so users need to remain cautious.