Microsoft has teamed up with Signal to offer private conversations on Skype. Using end-to-end encryption, the instant messaging app is finally catching up to its rivals on terms of security.
The new mode is called Private Conversations and it is currently being beta-tested by Skype Insiders before an expected release soon. Unfortunately, Microsoft confirmed that the encryption is only available for one-to-one conversations, and not available for groups as of now.
All users have to do is to invite a contact to a new Private Conversation via the menu option, and start chatting. It looks like only new chats will be encrypted while older ones will still be open to the world. If users are migrating between devices, the chat invite needs to be sent out again to ensure it is encrypted; no migration tools are available for secure chat.
Microsoft did not share any timeline about when the Private Conversation is heading to mainline users. However, it did confirm that both Android and iOS clients will be receiving the feature when it is out of beta testing sometime soon.
(Source: Signal via PhoneArena )
