Microsoft will finally add end-to-end encryption support to Microsoft Teams later this year. An overview of end-to-end encryption in Teams will be available in the first half of this year for business customers. It will be available for unscheduled 1: 1 Teams calls and is designed for more sensitive conversations.
This will be primarily useful for confidential conversations between employees or for scenarios such as an IT administrator providing an employee with their password during a call. The initial preview will be limited to unscheduled 1: 1 calls, but Microsoft plans to expand this to scheduled calls and online meetings over time.
Currently, Microsoft Teams does not support end-to-end encryption for meetings. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, allowing authorized services to decrypt content for data retention purposes. Microsoft currently uses SharePoint encryption to secure 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 doesn’t use end-to-end encryption. Zoom started implementing the technology in October and is gradually adding new features to its preview.