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What are the best ways to send secure, encrypted messages?

7

Options
Considered

24

User
Recs.

Nov 12, 2019

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

6 Options Considered

Best ways to send secure, encrypted messages	Price	Platforms	End-to-end encryption
-- Signal	-	Web, Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X	Yes
-- Wire	-	Web iOS Android OSX Windows Linux	Yes
-- Riot	Free	Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, Browser, IOS	Yes
-- PrivMX WebMail	-	-	-
-- GPG encrypted text file	-	-	-

Signal

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Top Con

It is not decentralized

This makes it vulnerable to attacks or legal actions. Self-hosted solutions with federation can not be taken down without taking down the internet. See More

Top Pro

Supports encrypted group chats

Specs

Platforms:Web, Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X

End-to-end encryption:Yes

Media:images / audio / video / files / contacts / GIFs / location

Top Con

Single device

You cannot send and receive messages from multiple devices. See More

Top Pro

Supports sharing of various different media types

Signal supports: emoji, pictures, videos, audio, contacts, any location and GIF. See More

Top Con

Needs access to your phone number and contacts to work

Top Pro

Provides security and privacy

Signal uses an advanced end to end encryption protocol that provides privacy for every message every time. See More

Top Con

Uses message mirroring

You phone must be on and connected to the internet for Signal Desktop to work. See More

Top Pro

Free and open source

Signal is Free and Open Source, enabling anyone to verify its security by auditing the code. TextSecure is the only private messenger that uses open source peer-reviewed cryptographic protocols to keep your messages safe. See More

Top Con

Servers hosted in the US

A security risk due to National Security letters, which require giving up data to the US state, and making it illegal to disclose that. See More

Top Pro

Message mirroring on Signal Desktop

Signal Desktop is a Chrome extension that allows you to mirror messages from your phone, including replying. See More

Top Con

Can only communicate with people who know your phone number

Signal hasn’t implemented any alternative identifier to connect users without revealing this detail. (Usernames might be coming soon, though!) See More

Top Pro

SMS/MMS support

Signal can also be your default SMS/MMS text messenger. Encryption is not possible when sending SMS to your contacts. See More

Top Pro

You can easily view all media exchanged

You can easily view all media shared in the chat without scrolling back to when it was shared. See More

Top Pro

Recommended by Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden uses this messenger and recommends it to everony who is concerned about his privacy. See More

Riot

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Top Pro

Libre/open source

Specs

Platforms:Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, Browser, IOS

End-to-end encryption:Yes

Top Pro

File Sharing

Top Pro

Simple interface

Riot has a very simple interface, adding the ability for more unexperienced users to use it. See More

Top Pro

Widgets support

Want to watch that flick at YouTube and discuss it at the same time? Have Grafana graphs stacked above your DevOps team chat? Collaboratively edit Google Docs and chat over without switching applications? This is possible with Riot. See More

Top Pro

Bridges to other networks

You're not confined within Riot's or even Matrix garden, and you don't have to make users of other networks switch to Matrix. See More

Top Pro

Large existing community

With public rooms for many people, and you can create your own and let people from the community join. See More

Top Pro

Markdown support

Code snippets in chats can be highlighted with Markdown. See More

Top Pro

Decentralized

An open network for secure, decentralized communication. See More

Top Pro

Search

Search messages in your current room, or all the rooms you're in. Not subject to a message history limit like Slack. See More

Top Pro

Self-hosting and federated network

Top Pro

Cross platform

Web browser, Linux, OS X, Windows, Android, OS. See More

Top Pro

Supports Encryption

Riot allows for fully encrypted text, voice, and video chatting. See More

Top Pro

Supports text, voice, video

Top Pro

VOIP and Videoconferencing

Top Pro

Multi device for one account

Send and receive messages from many devices for one account, not only from one device See More

Top Pro

Approved by the FSF

Top Pro

Etherpad real-time document collaboration

An easy to activate integration that allows multiple authors to edit a document simultaneously. See More

PrivMX WebMail

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GPG encrypted text file

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Top Con

No forward secrecy

If your private key is compromised at any point, all of your past and future communication with the same key is too. See More

Top Pro

Free to use and modify

GPG does not use patented algorithms, so this service is free to use and modify without restrictions. See More

Specs

Supported platforms:GNU/Linux GNU/Hurd FreeBSD OpenBSD NetBSD Windows OSX

Browser integration:Firefox

Encryption methods:IDEA (from 1.4.13/2.0.20) 3DES CAST5 Blowfish AES-128 AES-192 AES-256 Twofish Camellia-128 Camellia-192 Camellia-256 (from 1.4.10/2.0.12)

Top Con

Requires knowledge of the command line

GnuPG requires technical knowledge, but their FAQ is incredibly helpful for people who want to get started. See More

Top Pro

Outstanding compatibility

GPG is standard on most operating systems, and is compatible with "too many to list". A GPG API is currently being developed for further integration. See More

Top Pro

Uses symmetric key encryption to ensure that emails are secure

Symmetric key encryption not only protects emails from unauthorized access, but it ensures that the sender and receiver are legitimate. See More

Top Pro

Can be used with any system that understands text files

Text files are ubiquitous. They can be read across any modern platform and many obsolete one's. See More

Top Pro

Offers an installation package for Windows and OS X

"Gpg4win" is the installation package for Windows, and "GPGTools" is the package for Mac. The purpose of these packages is to equip users with everything needed in order to effectively keep information private. See More

Top Pro

No dependencies

GnuPG does not depend on a reading program in order to be functional. See More

Online encryption tools

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Top Con

Shared passwords have many flaws compared to other approaches to encrypted messaging

Passwords invite crackability, since the user might not opt to generate them randomly. Password compromise means the compromise of every message encrypted with the same password, past and future. Symmetric encryption means you need a different password for each group. If there are more than two people passing shared messages together, the encryption scheme doesn’t add proof of a message’s origin, unlike other options. See More

Top Con

Not open-source

(applies only to infoencrypt.com) The JavaScript is minified and no original source is provided. See More

Top Con

Weak use of encryption primitives

Both services currently listed derive keys from passwords with 1,000 iterations of PBKDF2. The NIST-recommended minimum is 10,000. infoencrypt.com uses a fixed, public secret key for its HMAC, meaning the message can be tampered with undetectably without knowing the password: Secret key is simply infoencrypt.com,AES,128b in binary representation ([0x69, 0x6e, 0x66, 0x6f, 0x65, 0x6e, 0x63, 0x72, 0x79, 0x70, 0x74, 0x2e, 0x63, 0x6f, 0x6d, 0x2c, 0x41, 0x45, 0x53, 0x2c, 0x31, 0x32, 0x38, 0x62]) See More

Top Con

In-browser encryption is hard to audit

With local open-source tools, you can read the source before running; with reproducible builds, you can also confirm that any precompiled packages are genuine. In a browser, it’s much harder to make sure that the source you’re looking at is what’s actually running, and that nothing else from the same origin is interfering with it. And your recipient has to do the same! See More

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