Secure Your Messages with End-To-End Encryption (E2EE)
A lot of people use the messaging app that comes standard on their phone (unless you are using an iPhone, it’s usually an unencrypted SMS texting) or one of the more popular messaging apps that may not be as secure as you think. Unencrypted messages leave you susceptible to being monitored by your wireless provider, any hackers, and the government.
Luckily, there is a solution to that problem; E2EE (End-to-End Encryption).
E2EE is a way that data is disguised (encrypted) so that only the person who sent the message, and the person who that message was sent to, are able to read the message.
This does two things:
- It ensures privacy in the fact that only the person you sent the message to, can read it.
- It prevents other apps from creating a copy of your message on its servers (which is how it can get to the government, etc. ).
So how does it work?
A cipher (which is an algorithm) converts your message into seemingly random characters, numbers, and symbols. Once your message is encrypted, it can’t be read without the key that is used to decrypt the message (it’s the other algorithm that takes the characters, numbers and symbols and changes it back to text) Bam! That’s it.
I’m not going to get into much detail regarding the two types of encryption ‘”keys” (Public Key or Private Key), other than a briefly saying that both allow you to encrypt your messages (however, their approach to it is different). There are tons of very informative blogs and articles written on the encryption keys, so if you’re interested in learning more take a look at those.
What I want to get to the meat and potatoes of the issue, mainly are your using an E2EE app for messaging ?
If you use one of these:
- Signal
- Wickr
- Messages (iMessage)
- Viber
- Jabber/OTR
- Wire
- Threema
Then congratulations! You are you using an app that has E2EE.
If you’re using any of the below apps, then beware, these apps do not have E2EE as a default (some have partial E2EE, or E2EE options , but you must turn them on. Many do not have any E2EE options at all.)
- Google Hangouts
- Kik
- Snapchat (E2EE for photos and videos)
- Line (E2EE only if selected )
- Skype (E2EE only if selected)
- Facebook Messenger (E2EE only if selected)
- Telegram (E2EE only if selected)
If you’re looking for a solid E2EE encrypted messaging app to use, I’ll tell you the one that is our go to here at OPR; Signal
Signal was released in 2014 and has steadily risen in popularity ever since.
Signal provides E2EE for all its voice calls, video calls, and instant messages by default (meaning you don’t have to choose it. It’s turned on automatically)
Signal’s encryption is also 100% open source, (so cybersecurity experts can check its validity). Signal encryption is so good that it is used by other apps to encrypt their messages (WhatsApp, Skype, etc.) It’s also 100% Free, so there’s really no reason not to use it.
