Today, internet users across the globe have many different, reliable, and easy to use encrypted messaging services and tools at their disposal. As suggested, encrypted messaging technologies used by instant messaging services ensure complete internet security and privacy at all times. In its essence, the brands that provide these services employ end-to-end encryption technologies that prevent your internet provider, cellular networks, or anyone out there in the digital world from being able to view the private keys that encrypted messages have.
In other words, only people that have cryptographic keys can decrypt or access and view the content of encrypted messages. This also means that using encrypted messaging services allows you to safely communicate with anyone online without fearing that the content of your private messages is accessed by anyone other than the intended recipient. When you use standard messaging services such as popular chat networks and email, your messages go through several intermediaries before they reach the intended recipient.
These messages are also stored by third parties as they travel from you before they reach the recipient. Some encrypted messaging services use what is called in-transit encryption technologies. When used this technology, your messages are encrypted but only in transit. In other words, these messages can be accessed by your internet provider even though they are encrypted since they have the cryptographic key required to decrypt this content.
What is Encrypted Messaging?
Nowadays, almost 4,7 billion people use the internet actively for a number of purposes and one of these definitely includes communicating online using different chat apps and services. Since more and more people realize the great dangers lurking in the digital world, more and more people turn to encrypted messaging options in order to protect their private, confidential data they share when they communicate online.
The basic idea behind encrypted messaging technologies revolves around scrambling text and voice messages through powerful encryption technology so that their content is not accessible by anyone except the person that has the cryptographic key required to decrypt such scrambled messages. Nonetheless, not all instant messaging apps and services use end-to-end encryption technologies.
As mentioned in the previous section, some of them only encrypt your private messages as they travel so their content still exists in plain text or some other readable format usually at the place where these messages are stored. When in-transit encryption is used, the content of private messages is only encrypted or scramble as it travels on the internet. Once it reaches the recipient, private messages are decrypted to their original readable form.
This means that such messages are not secured at their origin as well as at their destination. For the fullest protection, the best option is to turn to encrypted messaging services that use the very best end-to-end encryption which protects the content of private messages at all points including their origin as well as transmission, and final destination points. Once private messages are encrypted to a scrambled format at their origin point, they remain in this unreadable format as their transmission starts.
Upon reaching their final destination, these messages are still encrypted. This is not the case when in-transit encryption technology is used which decrypts private messages as they reach the recipient. When these two encryption technologies are compared, it is an end-to-end encryption technology that makes instant messaging more secure in every sense throughout the entire transmission process. Needless to say, this is also the technology that powers the best encrypted messaging services out there.
How to Pick Your Instant Messaging Service?
Thanks to amazing technological advancements, today we have a great variety of instant messaging services and apps at our disposal to choose from. However, it is important to remember that not all instant messaging services offer encrypted messaging options. In other words, not every instant messaging service is powered by encryption technology.
Some voice, chat, and text messaging options out there let you send private, secure messages that are encrypted from their origin to their destination points and this is always the best option to choose from. If you prefer SMS messaging, keep in mind that the vast majority of global mobile carriers do not employ end-to-end encryption even though they may claim so.
On the other hand, when mobile carriers do use encryption technology, the technology is most commonly applied on the transmission journey of your message from your messaging device to the respective cell tower. In other words, when you send an SMS that is encrypted this way, your message is decrypted before it reaches your mobile carrier’s network or database. Here, SMS messages are stored in an unsecured and of course, vulnerable state.
One exception to this rule is using iMessage which is a popular, widely used encrypted messaging option available for Apple Macs and iOS-powered smartphones. However, iMessage is only available to iOS users. This does not mean that Android users do not have many different encrypted messaging options out there at their disposal. Some of these options include:
The Best Encrypted Messaging Services
All of these services are reputable, renowned, safe, and easy to use options for sending encrypted messages to anyone who is connected to the web. Since 2016, WhatsApp has been offering self destructing message services that you can enjoy for free as soon as you get the WhatsApp app. Very similar to WhatsApp is Viber that is operated by the Rakuten Inc. company. With over 900 million users, Viber remains one of the most popular instant messaging options out there for sending private, secure, encrypted messages.
Unlike Viber and WhatsApp, to use Wickr you do not have to use your phone number or email. This means that Wickr does not collect any of your personal data and you still get to benefit from its powerful encrypted messaging tool. With over 700 million active users, LINE is another great option to communicate online just like very popular and widely used Signal, Telegram, and Dust that have their loyal users scattered all over the globe.