Signal

For text message privacy, get Signal

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From Brian X Chen’s Tech Fix article in the New York Times: Worried About the Privacy of Your Messages? Download Signal.

By the time you finish reading this column, you would be foolish not to download the messaging app Signal onto your smartphone and computer.

The free encrypted messaging service has won the acclaim of security researchers and privacy advocates, including Edward J. Snowden. All have said that Signal goes above and beyond other chat tools in keeping electronic communications private.

And now more than ever, we may need it. That’s because [continue]

I’ve been using Signal for ages now, and recommend it to everybody.

Signal, an encrypted messaging app for iPhone

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From The Intercept: You Should Really Consider Installing Signal, an Encrypted Messaging App for iPhone.

App maker Open Whisper Systems took an important step in this direction today with the release of a major new version of its Signal encrypted calling app for iPhones and iPads. The new version, Signal 2.0, folds in support for encrypted text messages using a protocol called TextSecure, meaning users can communicate using voice and text while remaining confident nothing can be intercepted in transit over the internet.

That may not sound like a particularly big deal, given that other encrypted communication apps are available for iOS, but Signal 2.0 offers something tremendously useful: peace of mind.

Unlike other text messaging products, Signal’s code is open source, meaning it can be inspected by experts, and the app also supports forward secrecy, so if an attacker steals your encryption key, they cannot go back and decrypt messages they may have collected in the past. [continue]

By the way: if you happen to be an Android user, check out the Wickr program.