Tauria, a software encryption startup based in Kitchener-Waterloo, has launched a secure video conferencing tool and business suite. The new offering is aimed to protect businesses’ confidential information by providing end-to-end encryption.
“It is incredibly important for us to create a product that is fully end-to-end, no knowledge encrypted to protect businesses.”
Tauria’s platform can support up to 50 people on video conference calls, while also allowing users to send messages, organize schedules, and share files, all of which is fully encrypted. Tauria is offering the new platform for free for the first month, as companies are relying more heavily on business collaboration tools to facilitate remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is incredibly important for us to create a product that is fully end-to-end, no knowledge encrypted to protect businesses,” said Tauria CEO Jesse Thé. “Encryption is the foundation of everything we do.”
Founded in 2015, Tauria is targeting its platform toward both public institutions and companies with proprietary or personal information, such as hospitals, law offices, municipalities, school boards, and accounting firms. It claims to use “military-grade” encryption to protect users against hackers, as well as prevent advertisers and software providers from accessing sensitive information.
Tauria claims it is the first company to offer full, end-to-end, no-knowledge encryption business communication software. No-knowledge encryption ensures that Tauria’s staff cannot access the information that is shared on the platform or through the video conferencing feature. Tauria safeguarding against even its own employees is what the company claims makes it different from competitors like Zoom, Microsoft, Google, and Slack.
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The launch of Tauria comes as the use of video conferencing tools have skyrocketed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with Zoom claiming 300 million daily users. However, The Intercept recently noted in a whitepaper that it is “not possible to enable end to end encryption for Zoom video meetings.” Google Hangouts has also come under fire for not using end-to-end encryption.
Computer security experts have demonstrated that poorly configured or inadequately supervised videoconferencing systems can be uniquely vulnerable to hackers and security breaches. In April, Zoom disabled some of its features to fix security flaws that led hackers to conduct “Zoom-bombing” attacks on the platform.
During COVID-19, Tauria has also discounted all of its services, stating its hope to make secure and encrypted communications for businesses more accessible.
Image source Unsplash. Photo by Wes Hicks.
