Microsoft will finally add end-to-end encryption support to Microsoft Teams later this year. A preview of end-to-end encryption in Teams will be available to commercial customers in the first half of this year. It will be available for 1: 1 unplanned Teams calls and is designed for more sensitive conversations.
This will usually be useful for confidential conversations between employees or for scenarios such as an IT administrator providing a password to an employee during a call. The initial preview will be limited to 1: 1 unscheduled calls, but Microsoft plans to expand it to scheduled calls and online meetings over time.
Microsoft Teams does not currently support end-to-end encryption for meetings. Data is encrypted during transport and at rest, enabling authorized services to decrypt content for record purposes from data. Microsoft currently uses SharePoint encryption to secure files and OneNote encryption for notes stored in Microsoft Teams. All chat content in Teams is also encrypted during transport and at rest.
Microsoft Teams’ main competitor, Slack, also does not use end-to-end coding. Zoom began implementing the technology in October, gradually adding more features to the preview.