IT Security Stack Exchange
IT Security Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [instant-messaging]

Instant messaging (IM) is a form of communication over the Internet, that offers quick transmission of text-based messages from sender to receiver

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Is Telegram secure?

There is a new WhatsApp-killer application called Telegram. They said that it's open source and that it has a more secure encryption. But they store all the messages in their servers and WhatsApp doesn't store any messages in any server, only a…
ilazgo
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How does end to end encryption work with whatsapp web?

Since today I have noticed whatsapp is using end to end encryption. However web.whatsapp.com is also still working. Does whatsapp establish a connection with my phone to keep things secure?
Mehdi Nellen
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Is Signal still more secure than WhatsApp?

WhatsApp has "recently" deployed end-to-end encryption using the Signal protocol, which is of course also being used by Signal itself. The related white paper (PDF). Now this raises the question: Is there still any security benefit to use Signal…
SEJPM
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Which protocols exist for end-to-end encrypted group chat?

I am looking for existing protocols for a group chat with two things: End to end encrypted. Just what you would expect: messages are only decipherable by the chat members and message tampering is detected. It should not encrypt each message for…
Luc
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Can I use WhatsApp to securely send public key, symmetric key and private key?

I am asking this because WhatsApp says it is end-to-end encrypted. Are there any problems with sending a public key through WhatsApp? There might be some objections to sending symmetric and private keys. Under what circumstances can I send…
Olle Hudga
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More secure to use e.g. Whatsapp Web in Franz than in browser?

Yesterday I found out this application called Franz. Their policy says they don't collect any information about your chats and can't read them (because it's just an application who bundles them all and doesn't serve as sender). But I was wondering,…
O'Niel
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The inner workings of iMessage security?

This is a very interesting article about the iMessage technology used in Apple's very popular communication devices. So far, there has not been much technical details released by Apple. Hopefully someone here is able to shed some light on it. What…
George
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How does WhatsApp's new group chat protocol work and what security properties does it have?

By now everybody has noticed that WhatsApp rolled out full end-to-end encryption recently, for direct communication, for media attachments and for group chats. I've read their white-paper (PDF) and noticed a difference from Signal's group chats,…
SEJPM
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How does Jami (formerly Ring.cx) really work, and how secure is it?

Jami calls itself "ultimate privacy and control for your voice, video and chat communications". But forums online mentioned in passing (little depth) that it uses bad cryptography protocols and has messy source code. What exactly is insecure about…
Wolf
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Are Playstation 4 communications really harder to monitor?

I have read on the net that authorities are having troubles monitoring Playstation 4 communications. As usual the news are very non technical. What makes the Playstation 4 network harder to intercept?
Margaret Bloom
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How can we determine if there is actual encryption and what type of encryption on messaging apps?

There are many new messaging apps that claim to be the most secure. How can we be certain if there is actual encryption and what type of encryption? Molly, signal, WhatsApp, briar, wire, telegram, Threema.
Private Guy
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Can Skype chat be protected from snooping? Are there safe alternatives?

I use Skype a lot. With all of my clients, staff, contractors and friends, however, the acquisition by Microsoft worries me, as two of my clients are direct MS competitors, and I often work on long projects which are in development for over a year…
Alex
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Private messaging for protesters

Hello I am a protester in Hong Kong. Many protesters use telegram group. I have heard recently from the News that a group admin was tricked by the police to unlock their phone (police cannot force one to unlock their phone under the law of HK) and a…
hkprotester
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Can voice chat be spied?

I wonder if voice chat (via public services like yahoo, google talk, skype, etc) is practically secure? Is it possible for the ISP or any middle point? I do not consider hacking the computers, but transmitting data. Comparing with http, is there…
Googlebot
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Does perfect forward secrecy work with group chats or chat history?

I'm curious if perfect forward secrecy could work in an app like WhatsApp where you want to see messages from before the last message or a multitude of messages at the same time like in a group chat. As I understand perfect forward secrecy changes…
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