Editing End-to-end encryption (section)

{{short description|Encryption model where only the sender and recipient can read the ciphertext}}
{{more citations needed|date=June 2020}}

[[File:End-to-End Encryption.png|thumb|Simplified illustration of end-to-end encrypted communication between two users]]

'''End-to-end encryption''' ('''E2EE''') is a method of implementing a secure communication system where only communicating users can participate. No one else, including the system provider, [[telecommunications service providers|telecom providers]], [[Internet providers]] or [[Cybercrime|malicious actors]], can access the [[Key (cryptography)|cryptographic keys]] needed to read or send messages.<ref name="Wired Lexicon">{{cite magazine|title=Hacker Lexicon: What Is End-to-End Encryption?|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/11/hacker-lexicon-end-to-end-encryption/|magazine=WIRED|access-date=22 December 2015|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223002912/http://www.wired.com/2014/11/hacker-lexicon-end-to-end-encryption/|archive-date=23 December 2015|date=2014-11-25|last1=Greenberg|first1=Andy}}</ref>

End-to-end [[encryption]] prevents data from being read or [[Man-in-the-middle attack|secretly modified]], except by the true sender and intended recipients. Frequently, the messages are relayed from the sender to the recipients by a service provider. However, messages are encrypted by the sender and no third party, including the service provider, has the means to decrypt them. The recipients retrieve the encrypted messages and decrypt them independently. Since third parties cannot decrypt the data being communicated or stored, services that provide end-to-end encryption are better at protecting user data when they are affected by [[data breach]]es.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Nellis |first=Stephen |date=2023-12-07 |title=Apple-backed study finds rise in data breaches as iPhone maker defends encryption stance |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/apple-backed-study-finds-rise-data-breaches-iphone-maker-defends-encryption-2023-12-07/ |work=Reuters}}</ref> Such services are also unable to share user data with government authorities, domestic or international.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McLaughlin |first1=Jenna |date=21 December 2015 |title=Democratic Debate Spawns Fantasy Talk on Encryption |url=https://theintercept.com/2015/12/21/democratic-debate-spawns-fantasy-talk-on-encryption/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223045636/https://theintercept.com/2015/12/21/democratic-debate-spawns-fantasy-talk-on-encryption/ |archive-date=23 December 2015 |work=The Intercept}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

In 2022, the UK's [[Information Commissioner's Office]], the government body responsible for enforcing online data standards, stated that opposition to E2EE was misinformed and the debate too unbalanced, with too little focus on benefits, since E2EE helped keep children safe online and law enforcement access to stored data on servers was "not the only way" to find abusers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-60072191|title=Encryption: UK data watchdog criticises government campaign|website=BBC News|date=21 January 2022}}</ref>