How Safe are your Messaging Apps

Cybersecurity 2018-08-04 23:43:07 - by Rachel Lee

Hackers are trained to be resourceful and opportunistic in their quest for chootheirthere victims, even to the point of going through your private messages. If you’re not aware yet, the exchange of information happening on these messaging apps is a gold mine for personal information, which can be used against you, either through identity theft or used for fraud. So you’re probably wondering if the app you’re currently using is safe and can protect you from the risk of data breaches? Are the messages encrypted?

Here’s a list of the most popular apps to help you decide which of ism are worth keeping for your peace of mind.

Messenger

One of the most popular messaging apps, messenger, have multiple features, like group chats, video calls, and stickers, Messenger has drawn criticism for not by default providing end-to-end encryption.

End-to-end encryption is a safety precaution that ensures only the sender and the intended recipient have access to a message's content and that nobody else, such as the provider of the app or outside parties, may intercept or read it. And nobody in between can decode the message since it is encrypted from the moment it leaves the sender's device until it reaches the recipient's device.

Thankfully, users may enable Messenger's "secret" end-to-end encryption option for particular chats. The messages exchanged during that chat are encrypted when this option is enabled and won't appear in the user's inbox. Instead, the user will have to go via a different menu item to access the chat, and to do so, they will either need to provide a password or use biometric identification, such as fingerprint or face recognition.

Hangouts

Through this google owned service, the users are allowed to make audio, and video while exchanging messages. Although the platform offers a practical and user-friendly means of communication, it's necessary to consider the service's security consequences.

Hangouts' lack of automated end-to-end encryption makes it possible for messages to be intercepted and read by outside parties, which is one of the main reasons for worry. The content of the messages is still accessible to Google and perhaps to anybody who gets illegal access to Google's servers, even though Google utilizes encryption to secure communications as they move between devices and servers. Messages sent here are known to only deleted messages from your history, but they are still kept on the company’s servers.

One of the biggest problems of this app is that it doesnt delete the messages automatically from the cloud, and even if you delete them from the app, they still appear in the servers used by Hangouts. The user's message history might therefore be seen if someone acquires illegal access to Google's servers, even if the user has erased the messages from their own device. This is especially problematic for users who utilize the site to transmit private or sensitive information.

End-to-end encryption is a feature that Telegram, a well-known messaging program, provides for its users. It's crucial to remember that not all chats have this encryption turned on by default. Instead, it can only be accessed using the app's "private chat" option.

Your conversations are completely encrypted when you utilize Telegram's private chat function. This means that you and the person you are conversing with can only view the messages. Even if it wanted to, Telegram cannot see your communications.

One benefit of Telegram's private chat function is the ability to send self-destructing messages. This implies that you may create a timer to have your messages erase themselves after a specific amount of time. This is helpful if you want to make sure that no one saves or sees your communications.

iMessage

End-to-end encryption only works between iMessage users, but not for messages sent from android to iPhone. If you use iCloud for backup purposes, iMessages are included by default. Ensure to toggle off those messages in settings so they aren’t stored on Apple servers.

Signal

It has garnered praise from security experts for its security with the surge in popularity since Donald Trump was elected. To help ensure that the messages are sent to the right person, Signal allows users to verify and counter-check their identities.

It could be interesting to know that WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption was built in collaboration with the team that created Signal. All messages, voice, and video calls sent over WhatsApp are automatically sent with end-to-end encryption. And if you want to take it further, WhatsApp also has a feature for users to verify their identities.

Confide

All messages are end-to-end encrypted, as claimed by the website. They also disappear after they’re read.

Skype

Being the granny of all messaging apps, Skype has to keep up with the privacy feature of the younger ones. Skype doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption on their messages and voice calls.

Snapchat

Snapchat’s traffic has tremendously increased over the past year. However, messages are not encrypted.

Text messages (SMS)

Regular text messages can be used in court to sort out legal matters. In that case, text messages are not meant to be encrypted.

Conclusion

As they enable real-time communication with friends, family, and coworkers, messaging apps have become crucial in our daily lives in the digital age. The risks associated with these applications, such as data breaches and identity theft, must be understood. This is so because hackers are taught to read people's private correspondence in their quest to find victims while also being cunning and opportunistic. While you can choose the app that can secure your data and be extra careful with the messages you share online, it is still best to invest in a layer of protection to protect your privacy. Connecting to a VPN server is still the best approach to encrypt all of your traffic including your messages.

The good news is that certain messaging applications have gone above and beyond to safeguard their users, including offering end-to-end encryption. This function is available by default in apps like WhatsApp and Signal, making sure that only the sender and the intended recipient can access the contents of messages and that no one else may intercept or read them.