Lifesize to provide all paid and free subscription customers with true end-to-end encryption and authentication for both meeting room systems and remote participants
Lifesize®, a global innovator of high-definition enterprise communication solutions, today announced comprehensive end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for all group and point-to-point video conferencing calls, representing the industry’s first true E2EE solution for both cloud video conferencing and cloud-connected meeting room devices. As part of the release, which will be automatically deployed on a rolling basis in Q3 2020, all Lifesize customers globally will be able to end-to-end encrypt any video meeting using the Lifesize desktop, mobile or web applications or using Lifesize’s family of 4K meeting room systems.
In response to COVID-19, video conferencing adoption has grown exponentially as organizations have sought cloud-based communication tools to facilitate remote work and collaboration between distributed teams, putting renewed focus on the security policies and features of cloud video conferencing providers. In an April 2020 blog post, Gartner, Inc. senior research director Mike Fasciani reiterated the importance of securing cloud-based meetings: “Security has always been one of many considerations when buying an enterprise-grade video meeting solution. The recent exposure of privacy and security vulnerabilities has amplified security awareness within all organizations. Service providers in the enterprise video solutions market are responsible for systemic level security of its platform and network and the data it collects from its customers.”
Upon release of Lifesize E2EE, meeting hosts on all Lifesize subscription and free plans will be able to end-to-end encrypt their audio and video streams with a key that is securely shared among meeting participants. Media will be encrypted from each participant, stay encrypted while in transit and on Lifesize servers, and will only be able to be decrypted on clients that have the key. Lifesize will also provide customers the option to manage their own encryption keys. When E2EE is applied, meeting recordings, PSTN call participants and support for third-party conference room devices will be automatically disabled.
“At this critical juncture for video communication, simply acquiring security IP and retroactively force-fitting it into a massively installed application makes good headlines but is highly problematic,” said Bobby Beckmann, chief technology officer at Lifesize. “Security of all our customers’ data and sensitive communications, whether they are using our paid or free service, has always been a core tenet of Lifesize’s product design and engineering culture. Delivering end-to-end encryption to our customers worldwide reinforces our commitment to addressing security challenges head-on and continuing to innovate while prioritizing security and privacy right alongside usability and global scale.”
