As the cybersecurity community comes together to celebrate and advocate for encrypted technologies this Global Encryption Day, the OPTF, an Australian digital rights not-for-profit, warns we need more than just end-to-end encryption to keep the internet safe and secure.
End-to-end encryption is an essential technology that protects our right to privacy. It keeps journalists, activists, and everyday people safe online and improves the overall security of the internet.
Being an Australian organisation, the OPTF is extremely concerned to see the Australian government leading the way in a global trend of anti-encryption legislation and regulation. With this in mind, it’s vital for the security community to develop technologies which incorporate not only end-to-end encryption, but additional elements of security.
I don’t know anyone without some kind of encrypted messenger on their phone, if you want security then end-to-end encryption is non-negotiable. But encryption is well and truly under attack. Fear campaigns are attempting to undermine the legitimacy of encryption. Encryption is not a source of evil. All the research supports this.
Alex Linton, spokesperson for the OPTF
The OPTF is funding development for additional technology including decentralised networks and onion-routing which can be used in conjunction with end-to-end encryption to help protect people’s security and privacy online.
October 21, 2021 will mark the first annual Global Encryption Day around the world. The OPTF is a registered Australian not-for-profit and a signee of this year’s Global Encryption Day Statement and is striving to build technology which supports and enhances existing encryption techniques.
The OPTF is the developer of an end-to-end encrypted messenger called Session. Session uses onion-routing, end-to-end encryption, and decentralised networking to provide extreme anonymity, privacy, and security in a mainstream messaging application.
