Signal: In the era of online espionage, the only way you can protect your privacy is encryption, something Edward Snowden has repeatedly mentioned.
The manufacturer of applications Open Whisper Systems made a significant step in this direction today with the release of a new version of the application Signal for iPhone and iPads.
The new version, Signal 2.0.1, supports encrypted text messages using a protocol called TextSecure. In addition to text encryption, it also supports voice encryption. So you can be absolutely sure that your communications, even if they are intercepted while being transported over the Internet, can not be used.
Unlike other text encryption products, Signal's code is open source, meaning it can be reviewed at any time by specialists.
The application also has the forward secret feature, so if an attacker manages to bypass the encryption key you are using, it will not be able to decrypt the messages that may have been collected in the past.
Signal for your iPhone ensures your communications, and you can be sure they will always be fully encoded. Other encryption applications have unpredictable behaviors at unpredictable times. Apple IMessage, for example, uses strong encryption, but only when communicating between two Apple devices and only when there is a proper data connection. Otherwise, iMessage sends SMS messages in plain text. IMessage does not support the forward secret feature and its source code is locked.
The Open Whisper Systems application also offers power users the ability to verify the identity of the people they are talking to, confirming that their encryption is not under attack. With iMessage, you just have to trust Apple for that.
Those interested in applying can to download it from here.
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