GSMA Confirms End-to-End Encryption for RCS, Enabling Secure Cross-Platform Messaging thehackernews.com/2025/03/g…

The GSM Association (GSMA) has formally announced support for end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for securing messages sent via the Rich Communications Services (RCS) protocol, bringing much-needed security protections to cross-platform messages shared between Android and iOS platforms.

To that end, the new GSMA specifications for RCS include E2EE based on the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol via what’s called the RCS Universal Profile 3.0.

“The new specifications define how to apply MLS within the context of RCS,” Tom Van Pelt, technical director of GSMA, said. “These procedures ensure that messages and other content such as files remain confidential and secure as they travel between clients.”

This also means that RCS will be the first “large-scale messaging service” to have support for interoperable E2EE between different client implementations from different providers in the near future.