The GSMA, the regulatory body overseeing the development of the Rich Communications Services (RCS) protocol, announced on Tuesday that it is working on implementing end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to secure RCS messages sent between Android and iOS.
“The next major milestone is to build into the RCS Universal Profile important protections for users, such as interoperable encryption ,” said Tom Van Pelt, GSMA technical director.
See also: iOS 18 Public Beta officially brings RCS messaging to the iPhone
"This will be the first deployment of standardized and interoperable message encryption between different computing platforms, addressing significant technical challenges such as key federation and cryptographically enforced group membership.".
This announcement came a day after Apple officially unveiled iOS 18 , which supports RCS in the Messages app, offering advanced features such as message reactions, typing hints, read receipts, and high-quality media sharing
RCS, an upgrade to the current SMS standard, does not currently offer end-to-end encryption. For this reason, Google has implemented the Signal protocol to ensure the security of RCS conversations on Android.
Earlier this year, Apple announced that it would work with GSMA members to integrate encryption. Notably, the company's proprietary iMessage service features E2EE (end-to-end encryption).
“We look forward to continuing to collaborate across the mobile ecosystem to advance the RCS standard with interoperable end-to-end encryption, ensuring that all RCS messages remain private and secure,” said Van Pelt.
Last July, also Google revealed plans to deploy the Message Layer Security (MLS) protocol to the Messages for Android, with the aim of facilitating interoperability between messaging services and platforms.
Read also: Researchers leverage ChatGPT to detect encryption misuse
Just this month, Meta , unveiled its approach to achieving interoperability with third-party messaging services on WhatsApp and Facebook Messengeras part of its efforts to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) while maintaining E2EE safeguards "to the extent possible."
“Creating conversations between third parties is technically demanding, and maintaining privacy and security is a shared responsibility,” the social networking company said. “We’ve already made significant strides, but we still have a long way to go.”
Source: thehackernews
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