LINE Corporation has
announced that it is to secure its OTT application, LINE, with the highest grade of security in the OTT messaging space. LINE is Japan’s most popular messaging application, with over 600 million users worldwide.
The feature, named Letter Sealing, uses end to end encryption to secure messages over mobile, Windows and Mac OSX platforms. The messages are encrypted on the device before being sent and decrypted on the recipient’s device. The keys to decrypt these messages are stored on the devices themselves, making it virtually impossible for the message to aLINE Corporation has announced that it is to secure its OTT application, LINE, with the highest grade of security in the OTT messaging space. LINE is Japan’s most popular messaging application, with over 600 million users worldwide.
The feature, named Letter Sealing, uses end to end encryption to secure messages over mobile, Windows and Mac OSX platforms. The messages are encrypted on the device before being sent and decrypted on the recipient’s device. The keys to decrypt these messages are stored on the devices themselves, making it virtually impossible for the message to be read whilst in transit. The feature is enabled by default, and users must be updated to version 5.3.0 to use it. Currently, it is only applicable to individual chats and location sharing.
Privacy vs Security
The announcement is likely to reignite the privacy vs security debate. The trade-off between privacy of citizens and their security has often divided opinion, with governments and politicians warning about the dangers of terrorism, as well as a sizable proportion of consumers advocating privacy. With many users favouring privacy over their security, it seems the move will be mostly popular amongst its LINE’s customers.
WhatsApp, one of LINE’s main competitors, only recently suffered embarrassment when a security flaw was exposed in its desktop client, WebApp. The breach involved contact cards that, when opened, installed viruses and malware; it also targeted consumer’s bank details. WhatsApp responded immediately with an update, but it appears that LINE has learnt from its competitor’s mistake and is taking a more proactive route with regards to security, aiming to prevent these problems before they arise.
Growing OTT VoIP Users
The majority of OTT applications, such as LINE and WhatsApp, offer both VoIP and messaging services. With OTT VoIP user numbers growing strongly, governments are increasingly considering regulating such services. The Indian Telecoms regulator, TRAI, recently announced that they will look to introduce regulation into the OTT voice market to assist traditional telcos. Juniper’s latest research, Future Voice Strategies: mVoIP, Carrier OTT, WebRTC, HD Voice & Video Calling 2015-2020 highlights the importance of this, with 2.6 billion active OTT VoIP users forecast by the end of 2020. be read whilst in transit. The feature is enabled by default, and users must be updated to version 5.3.0 to use it. Currently, it is only applicable to individual chats and location sharing.
Privacy vs Security
The announcement is likely to reignite the privacy vs security debate. The trade-off between privacy of citizens and their security has often divided opinion, with governments and politicians warning about the dangers of terrorism, as well as a sizable proportion of consumers advocating privacy. With many users favouring privacy over their security, it seems the move will be mostly popular amongst its LINE’s customers.
WhatsApp, one of LINE’s main competitors, only recently suffered embarrassment when a security flaw was exposed in its desktop client, WebApp. The breach involved contact cards that, when opened, installed viruses and malware; it also targeted consumer’s bank details. WhatsApp responded immediately with an update, but it appears that LINE has learnt from its competitor’s mistake and is taking a more proactive route with regards to security, aiming to prevent these problems before they arise.
Growing OTT VoIP Users
The majority of OTT applications, such as LINE and WhatsApp, offer both VoIP and messaging services. With OTT VoIP user numbers growing strongly, governments are increasingly considering regulating such services. The Indian Telecoms regulator, TRAI, recently announced that they will look to introduce regulation into the OTT voice market to assist traditional telcos. Juniper’s latest research, Future Voice Strategies: mVoIP, Carrier OTT, WebRTC, HD Voice & Video Calling 2015-2020 highlights the importance of this, with 2.6 billion active OTT VoIP users forecast by the end of 2020.