With data security and encryption being huge buzzwords in the digital world right now, most people would like to know which of the apps they use are really that secure. When it comes to messaging apps, a recent scorecard released by digital civil rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation has revealed that most of the popular ones aren’t really that that secure and may in fact be the weak point for digital communications. The ones that scored high on security aren’t that high on people’s radar though.
AIM, BlackBerry Messenger, Ebuddy XMS, Facebook Chat, Google Hangouts and Chat “off the record”, Hushmail, Kik Messenger, QQ, Skype, SnapChat, Viber, WhatsApp, and Yahoo! Messenger all scored low in this assessment, as they lack the key security assurances that the EFF has been looking for. Meanwhile the ones that scored high on this phase of the evaluation include ChatSecure + Orbot, Jitsi + Ostel, Off-The-Record Messaging for Windows, RetroShare, Signal / RedPhone, Silent Phone, Silent Text, Telegram Secret Chats, TextSecure, and Threema.
Some of the criteria they used in evaluating the messaging apps include whether or not the message is encrypted in transit, if it is encrypted so the provider can’t read it, if you can verify the identities of the contacts. It also looks into if your past messages are secure even if the keys are stolen, if the code is open for review, if there is proper documentation of the security design and if there has been a recent code audit.
This is actually just the first phase in the EFF Campaign for Secure & Usable Crypto and they are looking into expanding their evaluation of the apps’ usability and security of the highest scoring tools. The EFF also offers certain practical advice and tutorials on how to make your digital communication private.
SOURCE: EFF
This is old news, and the information is out of date. For example, Threema has passed an external security audit.