Despite the app market being saturated with Messaging apps, only six of them have been deemed secure by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The EFF examined 39 of the most popular messaging apps including Apple, Google Facebook, Microsoft, BlackBerry and Yahoo.
During their examination, the company looked at the following features:
- Is data encrypted in transit?
- Is it encrypted so the provider can’t read it?
- Can the service verify contacts’ identities?
- Are past communications secure if stolen?
- Is the code open to independent review?
- Is security design properly documented?
- Has the code been audited?
Of the 39 apps tested, all of them encrypted the content in transit, but only six of them satisfied all the seven criteria points and they were:
- ChatSecure + Orbot
- Cryptocat
- Redphone
- Silent Phone
- Silent Text
- TextSecure
“In the face of widespread internet surveillance, we need a secure and practical means of talking to each other from our phones and computers. Many companies offer secure messaging products, but are these systems actually secure?” Stated the EFF.
In terms of the big companies, Apple hit five out of the seven requirements whereas, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Skype, Google Hangouts and Facebook chat only hit two.