Battle of messaging apps: when your data is safe and when it’s not
Messaging is one of the top activities on smartphones; the majority of users use several apps to stay connected with friends, family and coworkers. According to Portio Research more than 2.1 billion people around the world use at least one social messaging app. Preferences vary from country to country and depend on age and purpose of use, and the most common choice does not necessarily mean the best one. In this post, we compare communication features and security configuration options for several popular messaging apps used primarily for personal conversations.
While messaging apps have a seemingly similar interface, what lies under the surface differs utterly. People tend to choose the same services their friends do. WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger and Telegram are among the most popular instant messengers in the world. Since many users compare VIPole to these top apps, we decided to make an overview of the features of these apps and their approach to privacy.
The message determines the media
Every messenger was created for a specific audience. Their development is determined by the vision and goals of the company, that may differ from general market trends. While Facebook Messenger provides easy access to friends from all over the world, Viber, WhatsApp and Telegram connect users with the people from their phonebook. VIPole, as a business-oriented messenger, allows to communicate securely with the intended group of people, authorized as contacts. The choice of messenger depends on user purposes.
- Any of these messengers is a great fit for small talks and exchanging media (maximum file size may vary).
- If you need more than just messaging and want to make phone calls or have one-on-one videos, then VIPole, Viber, WhatsApp (voice only) and Facebook Messenger are a good choice.
- To discuss business with maximum confidentiality or hold a conference call — VIPole is a right solution. Group calls are also available in Facebook Messenger, but only VIPole supports multi-user video conferencing. In addition, only VIPole offers productivity and time management tools, whereas other applications are not even planning to add them.
Controlling security while messaging
While VIPole, Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber have put serious efforts to ensure safety of their users, in Facebook Messenger privacy is more a good being sold than a value. If you are smart about your privacy and don’t want to put reputation at risk, you start considering other messengers that offer data protection apart from connecting you with friends. Make sure that these messengers protect both transferred and stored data, without limitations and gaps in security.
High profile data breaches and leaks make headlines regularly, as politicians and companies fail to keep their sensitive customer data safe. Hacks damage reputations, careers, businesses and even lives. Even a single weak link can cause huge scandals. The recent loud case with hacked Gmail account of one of Hillary Clinton’s volunteers revealed the dark side of the presidential campaign. Not only presidential candidates have reasons to keep information about their acquaintances and activities safe from prying eyes. This is why it’s reasonable to employ secure messaging for confidential conversations.
When popular messaging apps were first released, not all of them took privacy into account, however, later some of them added a number of settings that enabled users to protect information about their activities from being shared with contacts and service providers by default.
Complete control over content, including remote management and retrospective deleting and editing — this is what a communication service should grant users. When accidentally sending an unfinished message or a wrong document, you wish you could take it back. Same thing with occasional typos and autocorrect. However, tools that mainstream messengers provide to manage history are slack and limited. Most applications allow only to slightly change the history on your personal device, but this does not extend to content on devices of your contacts. VIPole, Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber all offer a range of features to control history, which Facebook Messenger does not. VIPole has handled this perfectly, providing tools for changing or deleting content in chats at any time.
Another privacy issue needs to be addressed. Once you authorize in WhatsApp, Viber or Facebook Messenger — you can’t logout and your friends get notifications as soon as you start using the app. Even if you aren’t chatting currently, all your contacts can see your online status by default, unless you change settings. VIPole and Telegram allow users to stay private and protect their data, as you can log out or quickly lock the application to make sure no one will give it even a casual glance.
Whatsapp is good for staying in touch with friends and creating group chats for dancing or tennis pals. It’s handy for exchanging thoughts, photos and videos. But it’s all focused on real time conversations. When you first sign in, your phonebook friends can see your profile picture and last online timestamp before you even have a chance to adjust your privacy settings. Chats and voice calls in WhatsApp are encrypted, but data is stored unencrypted, available to everyone who has access to the device. The service is extremely popular, being the first one of a kind, so it’s highly likely to find friends who are already using it. Keep in mind, that privacy not the strongest feature in WhatsApp. The service made a serious move towards privacy in April 2016 by introducing end-to-end encryption, however, several months later WhataApp announced they would share user data with Facebook for ad targeting. Which means that by communicating in WhatsApp you by default pass your metadata to advertisers, unless you’ve disabled it in settings. Chats may be encrypted end-to-end, but secure data storage is not guaranteed. WhatsApp does not store chat histories on their servers and recommends to use iCloud backup to back up and restore chat history. This may be handy, however, data stored in iCloud is vulnerable and can be breached.
Telegram
Telegram claims to be a safer alternative to WhatsApp, but true security is provided only in Secret Chats. These chats are encrypted end-to-end, they are not synchronized across devices and stay tied to specific mobile or desktop devices. Sharing videos, gifs and stickers is fun, as well as talking to bots and following various entertaining channels. However, you cannot make calls, which leaves the application far behind the competitors. Telegram privacy became even more questionable when WhatsApp introduced its end-to-end encrypted chats and calls. The application has several account protection settings including passcode lock and two-step verification. Despite that, earlier this year the allegedly secure service has failed to protect personal data of its clients several times. In august 2016, Reuters reported that more than a dozen Iranian Telegram accounts have been compromised in the last year due to SMS vulnerabilities. Hackers were able to access phone numbers of 15 million Iranian Telegram users. If there is a way to hack a dozen accounts, then your account in such a system is also vulnerable.
Viber
Viber is a convenient solution for personal chats and calls, but when it comes to team collaboration it has only few limited features. Viber declares privacy for all of its users, but the reality is that as soon as you sign in — advertisers bombard you with all kinds of ridiculous things and spam messages. There are few features to control privacy, but this app was made for socializing with friends and family. Viber is all about chatting, games, public channels of celebrities and stickers. If this is what you’ve been looking for — then this messenger is the best option. Viber is not completely resistant to attacks. In June 2016, Symantec reported, that Viber was targeted by malware that was capable of stealing photo and video content. Researchers said the information purloined by the malware might be used for identity theft, blackmail, fraud or pornography. Symantec notified Google and the malicious app was removed from Google Play. This dangerous precedent demonstrated that even after encryption was introduced in Viber, private data was still stored unencrypted and was thus vulnerable to exploits.
Facebook Messenger
Facevook Messenger is the least featured application from the list, but 900 mln users all over the world are there. If you are in club, Mark Zuckerberg has full access to your conversations, and he is sure to pass them further to legal authorities in case they ever wonder. Anything shared in Facebook chats is used to provide you with better targeted advertising and services. Facebook Messenger does not name security and privacy among its top priorities, the app is used to connect with friends, family, and acquaintances from all over the world. But this does not mean personal conversations don’t require protection. In June 2016, Facebook had to patch a vulnerability on the Messenger for Android app, recognized by Check Point, that gave hackers the ability to spread malware and modify or remove parts of conversations between users, including text, pictures, links, and other data. Despite Facebook has patched the bug, the precedent highlighted the potential threat to Messenger’s users.
VIPole
VIPole was created for confidential intercorporate communications of working teams, unlike the apps designed primarily for uniting friends and small communities. Businesses are a fruitful target for hackers, this is why companies deploy high-end secure software for internal communications and to connect with clients. When VIPole was released as a free public messaging app, it won the loyalty of users who are smart about their privacy. Due to end-to-end encryption, the only possible way to get access to user data in VIPole is social engineering. When users are aware of possible threats, their privacy is unflinching. Apart from basic and configurable security options, VIPole allows to protect critical settings with SMS confirmation to address certain attacks such as mail hacking and phishing. With highly customizable account settings in VIPole, users stay safe and inaccessible to advertisers and undesirable contacts. Here are a few details about privacy protection in VIPole. There is much more yet to come!
VIPole offers end-to-end encrypted messaging and collaboration solutions for teams and enterprises dealing with commercially or personally sensitive information, and individuals wishing to protect themselves from hackers, identity thieves and malware. More at www.vipole.com
