Top Encryption Apps To Keep Your Data Safe

on November 30, 2015 at 2:59 PM

 

IBM_RTP_DATA_CENTER_2

If you’re like most people across the globe these days, you find yourself using computer-driven devices to communicate with business colleagues, clients, family members, friends, and other contacts throughout the day. Indeed, digital communication (including emails, text messages, calls via smart phones, online messaging, and the like) has grown rapidly over recent years, and really changed the way people communicate and connect with each other.

Data 1

However, while there are plenty of benefits to these new ways of interacting, particularly when it comes to working in the energy sector, it’s also important to remember that vital business and personal information also needs to be safe guarded.

For starters, you should ensure you utilize a quality password manager to keep track of your various codes. In addition though, it also pays to download an encryption app that will work on keeping your text messages, phone calls, and other communications safe from prying eyes. If you’re keen to try out one of the many encryption apps on the market, read on for a sample of some of the top options you can download today.

Signal Private Messenger

Previously released as two separate apps, TextSecure and RedPhone, Signal Private Messenger now combines both services in one. Signal is a free app that was developed to make text messaging and VOIP voice calls private, in a simple and easy-to-use way. Available for both iOS and Android systems, the application enables users to communicate instantly with friends, family members, colleagues, and other contacts in real time, while also avoiding the cost of standard SMS and call fees. You can use Signal anytime you want to feel secure in the knowledge that your messages (including texts, pictures, and videos) and calls are kept private from potential prying eyes.

Once you have downloaded Signal’s app, you can create user groups so that you can chat with multiple people at a time, as well as share media links or your own attachments. The system simply uses your own existing phone number and address book, so you don’t have to worry about remembering any separate logins, passwords, usernames or the like.

Signal Private Messenger uses an advanced end-to-end encryption protocol for ultimate privacy, and the company’s server never has access to any of the communication you share online, including lists of group members, the name of groups, icons used, or other information. Furthermore, none of the data is ever stored, which means it can never be hacked.

Another benefit of this application is that it is open source. This means that anyone can verify the system’s security by auditing the code. According to the company, Signal is also the only private messenger service that uses open-source, peer-reviewed cryptographic protocols to keep messages safe.

Data 2

Wickr

Available for Android, iOS, Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems, Wickr is another top encryption app well worth checking out. The messaging platform is free to download, and allows customers to send and receive a variety of secure messages, whether texts, pictures, videos, audio files, or documents. All conversations conducted through the app can never be tracked, monitored or intercepted, and no metadata is recorded. Wickr removes every piece of identifying information (including geotags and records) from user messages and media files, and each Wickr ID is kept anonymous to anyone outside of your network, as well as the company itself.

Another great features of this system is that it has a configurable timer, so you can set an expiration time on all of your content sent via the app (like Mission Impossible self-destruct messages!) You can also remove all deleted content from your own device irreversibly. In addition, the app allows you to communicate with groups of ten people at a time; and to add fun stickers, graffiti, and photo filters. Your address book also is kept private, and is never stored on the company’s servers.

Data 3

Enlocked

If it’s your emails that you want to keep secure, check out Enlocked, an app that provides a safe and easy way to communicate sensitive information. The latest release of this app was reviewed and listed as “Excellent” by PCMag.com, as well as named as an Editor’s Choice for encrypted email software.

Enlocked is free to use when it comes to reading messages (you can read an unlimited number at no cost), and free for up to ten emails/replies sent each month. After that, if you want to send a larger number of messages, plans start from less than USD$10 per month.

When using Enlocked, you don’t need to have a separate login or use a special email application or address; there is purely a “Send Secure” button that you activate. Once this has been done, your message will be sent as a secure attachment. Recipients will receive your email in their normal Inbox, whether they use Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, or another email application. In order to read the communication though, they must unlock the application’s key with their unique password.

Messages remain private from everyone else, including email administrators, hackers, and even governments. The individual passwords used to open emails are never seen by the company or kept track of in any way, which is great. Keep in mind though that this does mean you need to remember your code, since if it’s lost you won’t be able to gain access to any of your messages.  

Pablo Villalobos is a bilingual (English/Spanish) freelance writer who is eagerly trying out the industry of contributed content. He has experience in many fields, like sociology, technology, and education. He has spent time in India learning. When not producing interesting content for excellent sites, he enjoys reading, photography, and learning new things about the amazing world around him.