What is End-to-End Encryption?

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is the most secure way to communicate securely online. By encrypting messages at both ends of a conversation, end-to-end encryption prevents anyone in the middle from reading communications.

In principle, it prevents potential eavesdroppers from being able to access the cryptographic keys needed to decrypt the conversation.

The messages are encrypted by the sender but the third party does not have a means to decrypt them, and stores them encrypted. The recipient retrieves the encrypted data and decrypts it themselves.

When you use E2EE to send an email or a message to someone, no one monitoring the network can see the content of your message — not hackers, not the government, and not even the company that facilitates your communication.

This differs from the encryption that most companies already use, which only protects the data in transit between your device and the company’s servers. For example, when you send and receive an email using a service that does not provide E2EE, such as Gmail or Hotmail, the company can access the content of your messages because they also hold the encryption keys. E2EE eliminates this possibility because the service provider does not actually possess the decryption key. Because of this, E2EE is much stronger than standard encryption.

Is end to end encryption secure?

End-to-end encryption is the most secure way to communicate privately and securely online. By encrypting messages at both ends of a conversation, end-to-end encryption prevents anyone in the middle from reading private communications

How does end-to-end encryption work?

1. A clearly readable message (“hello dad”) is encrypted into a scrambled message that is incomprehensible to anyone looking at it (“dhsieW8ge+osh54aehah6”).
2. The encrypted message is sent over the Internet, where others see the scrambled message, “ dhsieW8ge+osh54aehah6 ”
3. When it arrives at its destination, the intended recipient, and only the intended recipient, has some way of decrypting it back into the original message (“hello dad”).

Advantages of end-to-end encryption services:

There are several advantages of E2EE over the standard encryption that most services utilize:

• It keeps your data safe from hacks. E2EE means fewer parties have access to your unencrypted data. Even if hackers compromise the servers where your data is stored (e.g., the Yahoo mail hack), they cannot decrypt your data because they do not possess the decryption keys.
• It keeps your data private. If you use Gmail, Google can know every intimate detail you put in your emails, and it can save your emails even if you delete them. E2EE gives you control over who reads your messages.
• It’s good for democracy. Everyone has the right to privacy. E2EE protects free speech and shields persecuted activists, dissidents, and journalists from intimidation.

As the first and largest secure email provider, we protect millions of users every day. End-to-end encryption is the technological backbone of our vision for a more private and secure internet.

Some Challenges with E2EE:

Though the key exchange are unbreakable as they are using current popular algorithms, but still there are some of the challenges which should not be overlooked. There are possibility like Man-In-The-Middle Attack, as both the end points must have public key of their respective end-points. If any attacker gain access on the public key of both the end-points, than attack can be do

Is end-to-end encryption still relevant?

E2EE is only as good as the implementation. A tight implementation could prevent breaches in transit, however users at either end will still need be cautious to protect their communications. E2EE systems that aren’t implemented properly will leave out loopholes that can be exploited by attackers.

End-to-end encryption is powerful and certainly relevant, but the users need to understand its limitations and take further action to protect their data. Two-step verification, encrypted email service, and private servers located in data-privacy conscious jurisdictions can add a layer of safety to all your private communication

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/

www.makeuseof.com