Amazon Internet Products and services (AWS) introduced overdue final week that it’s going to shut down the unfastened Wickr Me encrypted messaging provider, announcing in a weblog put up that it plans to “refocus” on its similar AWS Wickr and Wickr Endeavor merchandise on the expense of the patron wing of the Wickr circle of relatives.
Wickr has been in operation for a decade, making it one of the crucial first end-to-end encrypted messaging apps in the marketplace. Wickr Me was once well-liked by newshounds and whistleblowers alike as one way of protected conversation of delicate data, in step with professionals, nevertheless it was once additionally purported to be in vast use as a medium for illicit content material like kid intercourse abuse and drug transactions, according to a June report from NBC News.
Amazon’s remark at the pending closure of Wickr Me doesn’t cope with the ones allegations at once, nevertheless it does emphasize a renewed center of attention at the endeavor and executive variations of the app. Wickr is a moderately contemporary acquisition through Amazon, having began lifestyles in 2012 as a public-facing app sooner than being bought in the summertime of 2021 through the hyperscaler. Amazon, on the time, indicated that the acquisition was once aimed toward making improvements to safety for its many massive organizational consumers, who face rising threats given the shift to hybrid operating.
“Public sector consumers use Wickr for a various vary of missions, from securely speaking with office-based workers to offering provider participants on the tactical edge with encrypted communications,” stated Steve Schmidt, AWS vp and CISO, in a weblog put up on the time of the purchase. “Wickr’s protected communications answers assist enterprises and executive organizations adapt to this modification of their workforces and is a welcome boost to the rising set of collaboration and productiveness services and products that AWS gives consumers and companions.”
Wickr Me remains to be operating nowadays, however will prevent accepting new customers on the finish of December. The platform itself will stay in operation for 365 days after that, with Amazon making plans to close the device down totally on December 31, 2023. The corporate stated in its remark nowadays that it’s going to supply main points “within the coming months” on ways in which present customers can keep their information from the Wickr Me platform.
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