Most of the communications we have over the internet are visible to third parties. This can include intimate conversations with loved ones, medical documents, financial documents, and other sensitive information.
By using an encrypted messenger you can protect yourself and your family members from these threats. Signal strikes a great balance between security and usability. It takes less than a minute to setup, and is secure by default.
End-to-End Encryption (or E2EE) means that message contents can only be seen by the sender and receiver. Even if the servers that are passing messages along get compromised, message contents are safe as long as neither “end” is compromised.
The Dangers of SMS
SMS, or Short Message Service is the most common way people text with eachother. If you are on iPhone, you are using SMS when you see green message bubbles. SMS messages are sent over carrier networks as plain text. This means that every SMS message you have ever sent is stored in databases across the world. Big tech companies, governements, (including China) have access to this data and it is a matter of time before it ends up in the hands of more hackers.
It’s best to operate with the assumption that SMS messages are public information, only share things here that you would be okay with being seen by the world.
iMessage
IMessage does use E2EE but it is not enabled by default. This means that your messages are protected from the outside world, but Apple has access.
To enable full E2EE on iMessage, you must enable Advanced Data Protection or disable iCloud backups for iMessage altogether.
Apple’s implentation of E2EE protects message contents but not metadata, which can still be revealing. Metadata includes any data associated with the message itself. This can include who is messaging who, when messages have been sent and received, and the location (or IP address) of users when they sent a message.
Signal – The Gold Standard
Signal is an open source E2EE messenger that goes to great lengths to provide strong security and privacy, while maintaining an easy to use interface.
Signal does not only encrypt message contents but also metadata. This is proven by their response to legal requests for user data. Learn more here.