Microsoft is finally adding end-to-end encryption support to Microsoft Teams later this year. A preview of end-to-end encryption at Teams will be available in the first half of this year for commercial customers. It will be available for unscheduled Teams 1: 1 calls and is designed for more confidential conversations.
This will be particularly useful for confidential conversations between employees or for scenarios such as an IT administrator providing an employee with their password via a call. The initial view will be limited to unscheduled 1: 1 calls, but Microsoft plans to expand this to scheduled calls and online meetings over time.
Microsoft Teams does not currently support end-to-end encryption for meetings. The data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and this allows authorized services to decrypt the content for data retention record purposes. Microsoft currently uses SharePoint encryption to protect files at rest and OneNote encryption for notes stored in Microsoft Teams. All chat content in Teams is also encrypted in transit and at rest.
Microsoft Teams’ main competitor, Slack, also does not use end-to-end encryption. Zoom started implementing the technology in October and is gradually adding more features to its visualization.