End-to-End Encrypted Messenger Apps

 

 

According to an article on BGR, “Just about anyone can read your private conversations if you use SMS”, and USA Today has said “Your texts are not as secure as you think”.  Simply put, standard text messages are not secure, they can be intercepted and read by other than the addressee (your intended recipient).

Your cellular service provider also has the ability to intercept, store, and read your text messages. PC Magazine published an article “How Long Does Your Wireless Carrier Retain Texts, Call Logs?” that discussed the data retention policies of the major cellular service providers.

 

In order to protect the content of your “text messages” you should be using an end-to-end encrypted messenger. In order to send end-to-end encrypted messages, everyone with whom you communicate must have the same encrypted messenger.  One of the most popular end-to-end encrypted messengers is WhatsApp (https://www.whatsapp.com). As of July 2017, WhatsApp had an estimated 1.3 Billion active users. Because so many people use WhatsApp and because of its easy-to-use interface I recommend that you include WhatsApp among your messaging tools.

My personal favorites for end-to-end encrypted messengers are Wickr (https://www.wickr.com/) and Signal Private Messenger (https://signal.org). Other encrypted messengers that may be of interest are ChatSecure for iOS (https://chatsecure.org), Cyphr (https://www.goldenfrog.com/cyphr), and CoverMe (http://www.coverme.ws/en/index.html).

 

There are other encrypted messengers available, such as Telegram (https://telegram.org) and Viber (https://www.viber.com), and the one you choose is going to be tied to what others with whom you are communicating are currently using, or what you can get them to use. As you research the various messenger apps, be sure that you only use those apps that use end-to-end encryption. Almost all apps encrypt your messages in transit, but if the app does not provide end-to-end encryption then it is likely that your messages are stored in plaintext on the messaging server.

 

Facebook Messenger offers the ability to turn on end-to-end encryption using its Secret Conversation mode. I am not particularly a fan of the Secret Conversation mode, because it is not turned on by default and thus you must remember to select it at the start of every conversation. Still if you are going to use Facebook Messenger, you should make it a point to always use it in Secret Conversation mode.

 

If you use an iPhone, then your iMessages and FaceTime chats are end-to-end encrypted with other iPhone users. However, if the person with whom you are communicating is not using an iPhone (i.e. they have an Android or Windows phone) then your messages are just unsecure text messages; and of course, FaceTime is not available to non-iPhone users.

 

Now it is important to understand that while end-to-end encryption protects the content of your messages, it does not necessarily protect the metadata of those messages. Someone who is able to monitor your cell-phone might be able to tell with whom you are communicating, but end-to-end encryption would keep them from knowing what you were saying.

 

Do a bit of research. Talk with friends and family with whom you regularly communicate by text message, and get everyone to use an end-to-end encrypted messenger. You may think that you have nothing to hide, and maybe this is true. But, saying that you don’t care about secure communications because you have nothing to hide, is kind of like saying that you don’t care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.