How secure are messages sent via Skype, Viber and Whatsapp?

By Staff Reporter - 06 Nov '14 13:02PM

Have you ever stopped to wonder just how secure the messages are that you send through platforms like Google Hangouts, Facebook chat, Snapchat or WhatsApp? According to a new report by a San Francisco-based consumer privacy group, they are not secure at all.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has tested several messaging apps across different platforms to find out which ones protect your messages at different stages after being sent from your device.

Based on the test, it has produced a Secure Messaging Scorecard that shows the level of security provided by each messaging app. The website explains "The Snowden revelations have confirmed our worst fears: governments are spying on our digital lives, grabbing up communications transmitted in the clear."

"In the face of widespread Internet surveillance, we need a secure and practical means of talking to each other from our phones and computers," the EFF says. "Many companies offer 'secure messaging' products-but are these systems actually secure? We decided to find out, in the first phase of a new EFF Campaign for Secure & Usable Crypto."

All the apps that received perfect scores are well known in the security community, though not as widely used as others in the test. Silent Text and Silent Phone, for example, are subscription-based apps from security company Silent Circle that also form the backbone of the new privacy-oriented Blackphone.

Skype scored points for not only encrypting data, but also keeping it from Microsoft's eyes, but failed in the remaining five categories. Apple's FaceTime fared very well, missing out only on contact identity verification and independent code review. Signal, TextSecure, Silent Phone, CryptoCat, Silent Text, and ChatSecure + Orbot all passed every test, while QQ and Mxit failed on every single count.

However, this scorecard represents only the first phase of the campaign.

"In later phases, we are planning to offer closer examinations of the usability and security of the tools that score the highest here," says the organisation.

"As such, the results in the scorecard should not be read as endorsements of individual tools or guarantees of their security; they are merely indications that the projects are on the right track.

"We chose technologies that have a large user base - and thus a great deal of sensitive user communications - in addition to smaller companies that are pioneering advanced security practices. We're hoping our scorecard will serve as a race to the top, spurring innovation around strong crypto for digital communications."