Part 5: Secure and private instant messaging.Part 3: If privacy is paramount, Linux and Torare key.Part 2: To ensure security and privacy, open-source software is required.Part 1: Making my life private and secure.Repeatedly.įollow Bryan Lunduke’s quest to make his digital life as private and secure as possible: For reasons that are so astoundingly obvious, it makes you want to open your hand to a fully extended, flat position and then proceed to strike your own forehead with your palm. For anyone concerned with privacy or anonymity, this is almost a complete deal-breaker. Unfortunately there are some pretty severe drawbacks.įirst and foremost: A Signal account is tied to a phone number. All of that adds up to Signal being a pretty fantastic candidate for secure messaging.

The majority of the Signal server is also available as open source (though not the video chat functionality). This is a very good thing.Īlso good is that the Signal clients are open source and available to everyone on GitHub. Meaning the content of messages are never stored on the Signal servers in an unencrypted form. And it is recommended (including an endorsement from Edward Snowden) for good reasons.Īll messages are end-to-end encrypted, and the keys are stored only at the end points. One of the most often recommended of the secure instant messaging platforms is Signal from Open Whisper Systems.

Signal instant messenger