Security and privacy issues on the various online platforms we use are now more important than ever. Even on entertainment-focused services like Discord, this is something we need to pay close attention to.
When we talk about Discord, we are actually referring to an increasingly widespread and used platform that users from all over the world use to communicate in one way or another. In addition, here there are multiple ways to establish contacts with friends, family, followers or strangers.
That’s why security and privacy are key factors in many cases. This is precisely why the people in charge at Discord have just introduced a new protocol called DAVE that will be of enormous help to us for all of this. This is actually a custom end-to-end encryption protocol, also known as E2EE, designed to protect audio and video calls on the platform.
Basically, the goal of this integration is to combat any potential unauthorized interception of these calls. To ensure maximum reliability, DAVE was created with the help of cybersecurity experts who audited the code and the implementation of end-to-end encryption.
It’s worth noting that the new system on Discord will cover one-on-one audio and video calls between users in private channels. It will also extend to audio and video calls in small group chats, or voice channels for larger group conversations and real-time streaming.
Communications on Discord will be more secure
In addition, and following the new addition we mentioned, we will be able to confirm when calls are end-to-end encrypted. We will also be able to verify other members in those same calls through the platform.
Although Discord was originally created for gamers to communicate during games, the platform has grown to become one of the most popular online communication services in the world. It is now aimed at groups with common interests, content creators, businesses, and more.
There is no doubt that the arrival of DAVE is an important step towards improving the security and privacy of data on the platform. We must take into account that Discord is currently used by more than 200 million people around the world. In turn, its top managers have decided that the protocol and the libraries that support it will be open source. This will allow them to be analyzed by security experts.
DAVE thus uses the WebRTC Encrypted API, which allows audio and video media streams to be encrypted after they are encoded, before being packaged for transmission between users. The receiving end then decrypts the streams and decodes them. Note that codec metadata such as headers and reserved streams are left unencrypted.
The new feature will be rolled out gradually, initially on Discord’s desktop and mobile apps. It will later be rolled out to the web version of the platform.
