The market is overwhelmed by messaging app options for consumers and businesses. It is growing considerably and goes far beyond the popular options most users are aware of and use. From WhatsApp to FacebookMessenger, Signal to Telegram and many more, are they all equally providing the service they should? When it comes to keeping information safe and communication as private as possible, how are they really performing and how vulnerable do they leave business users?
At RealTyme, we do not take chances with your privacy and with our feature-packed platform designed to protect users, business leaders and your organisation, we can show professionals to governments how they can work differently. Remove the concern of bad actors, data interception and non-compliant usage that unfortunately many secure messaging apps cannot guarantee.
What are the Concerns?
Many business professionals may choose to use free messaging apps or communication platforms as they may already use them privately as well as many millions of others. Whilst this is convenient and simple to use, consumer apps especially were never built for the sole purpose of providing businesses with communication and collaboration tools.
There are many features that raise concerns about data privacy and sharing, leaving businesses at risk of being in breach of compliance regulations for their industry. This is even if the app or platform provides ‘encrypted messaging, ’which on the surface ticks a box, but may not be as secure as it seems. This is where being wary of the secure messaging apps you choose to use, and their limitations will help.
- End-to-end encryption – not all messaging apps provide this, but the ones that do may keep a copy of the encryption keys and the option may not be turned on by default. This means whilst users can send and receive encrypted messages and data, the organisation that provides the service can also decrypt this information. If there was ever a breach of data from these companies, it would mean the copies of the encryption keys could be intercepted and used maliciously.
- Use of Metadata – some platforms may intercept user data for marketing purposes, including your metadata which can identify who you are, IP addresses, your device, sender and receiver IDs and other personal information. This can be for the purposes of targeted ads and improving the organisation’s service, meaning any information related to a business and its clients could be seen, as well as the user.
- Reduce information lifespan – ephemeral content not only preserve users data from big data mining, but it also reduces digital footprint of users and surface to be exploit from bots screening content.Deleting old conversation, unused files and automatically ditching unnecessary backups reduces also your carbon footprint.
- Cloud interception – despite offering encrypted messaging, some apps store this information in the cloud where it can be much more vulnerable. This can mean third-party interception and use if breached. At RealTyme we do not store any data on servers, users are in full control of their data on their devices.
- Not E2EE by design – many consumer messaging apps added end-to-end encryption at a later date, so they were not originally built to offer this. This means users who signed up before changes were made were previously vulnerable.
- Personal Data for Signup – despite offering an encrypted communication service, users may still need to provide personal data to sign up including their phone number, email address, name, and date of birth. This means having to share information before you can use the service.
When you start to look at the various details of some‘ secure messaging apps,’ you begin to see that users are still having to provide lots of information first or have to trust the service will not use their data against them or be breached. This is not something businesses should have to compromise on to work collaboratively and securely.
Comparing Secure Messaging Apps
As it can be confusing for users and leave business leaders concerned about communication between employees and clients, here are just some of the features offered by popular communication apps where the concerns are apparent:
Facebook Messenger
- Encryption isn’t by default
- User data is collected
- Metadata is not encrypted
- Is not open source (cannot be independently analysed and audited)
WhatsApp
- Owned by Facebook, so collects user information
- Metadata is not encrypted
- User data can be shared with third parties
- Not open source
- Messages can be read by Facebook
Signal
- Collects customer data
- Phone number is required for registration
- Cannot sign up anonymously
- Uses directory server to match contacts
Telegram
- Encryption isn’t by default
- Collects user data including contact info
- Metadata is not encrypted and can be sent to third parties
- Cannot sign up anonymously
- Uses directory server to match contacts
- Messages can be read by the company
Apple iMessage
- Collects user data, connected to the Apple ecosystem
- Metadata is not encrypted and can be sent to third parties
- Isn’t open source
- Cannot sign up anonymously
- Directory server used for adding contacts
- Messages can be read by the company
- Messages backed up to the cloud where they’re not encrypted
Secure Messaging and Collaboration with No Compromises
With some of the most well-known messaging apps raising many questions about data privacy and client confidentiality, at RealTyme we provide business users with a solution. With our platform built with privacy by design, users can collaborate and share data with true end-to-end encryption in transit and at rest. This includes messaging, screen sharing and video calls all by default.
- Military-grade encryption – AES-256 as standard E2EE, for all communication
- Data Sovereignty – Swiss data sovereignty to ensure the highest privacy, both on-premise and private cloud
- Full control – we provide your organisation with the tools for total control and user access
- No sharing or selling of data – ad-free and no sharing of your information anywhere
- Private metadata – no need to sync contacts and minimal personal information for signup
- No tracking – we do not store your information or analyze usage
- Invitation-based contacts – privately invite into circles with no syncing to personal contacts
Consider Your Options for Collaboration
If any of the limitations of many secure messaging apps are of concern to you and your business, you shouldn’t have to compromise. Using RealTyme is proof there is another route to take to be in control of your valuable data at all times, always. To learn more you can talk to sales who will be happy to arrange a demo, or request an invite for further information.
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