I’m a security expert – I avoid messaging apps with two popular features that can turn ‘abusive’
A SECURITY expert has revealed the types of messaging apps he avoids.
The specialist says the apps contain features that can turn abusive and they’re found on the likes of WhatsApp and Snapchat.
James, McQuiggan, a security awareness advocate at KnowBe4, told The U.S. Sun: “It’s a good practice to avoid apps with anonymous messaging or auto-deleting message features, as those make monitoring for abuse harder.”
These features are found on a lot of popular apps and you can always avoid using them or find an app that’s more suitable for you.
McQuiggan also told us that good messaging apps are end-to-end encrypted.
He said: “Nowadays, secure and trustworthy messaging apps provide end-to-end encryption to protect communication with your connections.”
The expert also recommends using apps that are connected to a phone number, not just your name.
He added: “Apps requiring phone numbers as IDs, like your email address for usernames, are more secure because it’s a number not tied to a name or email directly.”
Not all messaging apps are equal and you should do your research to find the right one for you.
Security expert Stan Kaminsky recently explained this on the Kaspersky blog.
He referred to a report called What Is Secure? by experts from the agencies Tech Policy Press and Convocation Research and Design.
That report found that Signal is by far the most secure messaging app when compared to other popular apps.
However, Signal does have features that McQuiggan warns against.
The apps researched in the study were Signal, WhatsApp, iMessage, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, and Google Messages.
Signal was the only app that offered encrypted chat backups by default.
WhatsApp and iMessage also offer this feature but users need to opt in for it to work.