Does anybody have a relatively secure IM service they'd recommend?

[Nathan047]

I'm looking for a relatively secure (and hopefully free) Instant Message service. Any recommendations?

[1715244372]

1715244372

[1715244372]

1715244372

[1715244372]

1715244372

[buwaytress]

I learnt about Ricochet.im which runs on the ToR network a few months ago and haven't heard or found anything quite like it.

1. Anonymous
2. P2P
3. Encrypted

You should check it out, it's free to use and very lightweight. Hope that's what you're looking for. Perfect companion to your crypto discussions =)

[Nathan047]

Thanks. I'll check it out soon.

Edit:
VirusTotal has 1 detection on that link here: https://www.virustotal.com/en/url/ca954ae9092adc4acbcec70d8d838ed485a0ec4634166190732e4bd7e9dc2464/analysis/
Not sure if it is a false postitive or if I should stay away.

[pinkflower]

Thanks. I'll check it out soon.

Edit:
VirusTotal has 1 detection on that link here: https://www.virustotal.com/en/url/ca954ae9092adc4acbcec70d8d838ed485a0ec4634166190732e4bd7e9dc2464/analysis/
Not sure if it is a false postitive or if I should stay away.

That could only be a false positive. Ricochet is one of the more trusted apps out there and its open source. Check their Github.

https://github.com/ricochet-im/ricochet

Another app to use if you have Android or IOS is Signal. A lot of people who are into crypto use it. They consider it more secure and private. If you use Viber. Stop and use Signal.

[mobnepal]

I have found a list of 7 messenger apps that encrypt chats you can look at them here http://www.whoishostingthis.com/blog/2015/04/29/im-encryption/

Other than this tor also have tor messenger for anonymous messaging service https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tor-messenger-beta-chat-over-tor-easily

[buwaytress]

Thanks. I'll check it out soon.

Edit:
VirusTotal has 1 detection on that link here: https://www.virustotal.com/en/url/ca954ae9092adc4acbcec70d8d838ed485a0ec4634166190732e4bd7e9dc2464/analysis/
Not sure if it is a false postitive or if I should stay away.

That could only be a false positive. Ricochet is one of the more trusted apps out there and its open source. Check their Github.

https://github.com/ricochet-im/ricochet

Another app to use if you have Android or IOS is Signal. A lot of people who are into crypto use it. They consider it more secure and private. If you use Viber. Stop and use Signal.

Ricochet is about as trustworthy as ToR, so if you believe in the principles of ToR then you can use ricochet with the same assurance. It does flag up false positives on a number of prominent software but they're quickly resolved as you can see from here: https://github.com/ricochet-im/ricochet/issues/441

Thanks for recommending Signal. The only problem now is to convince people from work and friends to switch over.

[favdesu]

get signal for now.

[pinkflower]

Thanks. I'll check it out soon.

Edit:
VirusTotal has 1 detection on that link here: https://www.virustotal.com/en/url/ca954ae9092adc4acbcec70d8d838ed485a0ec4634166190732e4bd7e9dc2464/analysis/
Not sure if it is a false postitive or if I should stay away.

That could only be a false positive. Ricochet is one of the more trusted apps out there and its open source. Check their Github.

https://github.com/ricochet-im/ricochet

Another app to use if you have Android or IOS is Signal. A lot of people who are into crypto use it. They consider it more secure and private. If you use Viber. Stop and use Signal.

Ricochet is about as trustworthy as ToR, so if you believe in the principles of ToR then you can use ricochet with the same assurance. It does flag up false positives on a number of prominent software but they're quickly resolved as you can see from here: https://github.com/ricochet-im/ricochet/issues/441

Thanks for recommending Signal. The only problem now is to convince people from work and friends to switch over.

Thats easy. You educate them about internet privacy and our need to keep government agencies from sniffing our traffic from our computers and mobile devices. They may say they have nothing to hide, in which I always reply, then give me your email password.

[ranlo]

They may say they have nothing to hide, in which I always reply, then give me your email password.

I've always thought this was a horrible answer. It's not that we have things to hide, it's that there's NO REASON for boundaries to be overstepped. If some stranger asked me where I went yesterday, I shouldn't be forced to tell them. I didn't go anywhere illegal, but it's none of their business.

[pinkflower]

Strangers dont have to ask where you were these days. All they have to do is stalk you in fb, twitter or instagram. A little search on the web and they have you.

[veleten]

I'm looking for a relatively secure (and hopefully free) Instant Message service. Any recommendations?

what is wrong with good ol' telegram?

https://telegram.org/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.telegram.messenger&hl=en

an excerpt from their FAQ:

Q: How secure is Telegram?

Telegram is more secure than mass market messengers like WhatsApp and Line. We are based on the MTProto protocol (see description and advanced FAQ), built upon time-tested algorithms to make security compatible with high-speed delivery and reliability on weak connections. We are continuously working with the community to improve the security of our protocol and clients.
Q: What if I’m more paranoid than your regular user?

We've got you covered. Telegram’s special secret chats use end-to-end encryption, leave no trace on our servers, support self-destructing messages and don’t allow forwarding. On top of this, secret chats are not part of the Telegram cloud and can only be accessed on their devices of origin.

[Hazir]

Telegram is not that safe as many people may think. There are some security concerns when you use it. Telegram's plaintext is stored on the server.
Despite what they say in the FAQ service provider can access that data making the connection not secure.
Even Edward Snowden tweeted recently: "@telegram's defaults are dangerous. Without a major update, it's unsafe".

More info: https://www.rt.com/news/326565-snowden-durov-security-telegram/

[Nathan047]

I'm looking for a relatively secure (and hopefully free) Instant Message service. Any recommendations?

what is wrong with good ol' telegram?

https://telegram.org/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.telegram.messenger&hl=en

an excerpt from their FAQ:

Q: How secure is Telegram?

Telegram is more secure than mass market messengers like WhatsApp and Line. We are based on the MTProto protocol (see description and advanced FAQ), built upon time-tested algorithms to make security compatible with high-speed delivery and reliability on weak connections. We are continuously working with the community to improve the security of our protocol and clients.
Q: What if I’m more paranoid than your regular user?

We've got you covered. Telegram’s special secret chats use end-to-end encryption, leave no trace on our servers, support self-destructing messages and don’t allow forwarding. On top of this, secret chats are not part of the Telegram cloud and can only be accessed on their devices of origin.

Telegram is not that safe as many people may think. There are some security concerns when you use it. Telegram's plaintext is stored on the server.
Despite what they say in the FAQ service provider can access that data making the connection not secure.
Even Edward Snowden tweeted recently: "@telegram's defaults are dangerous. Without a major update, it's unsafe".

More info: https://www.rt.com/news/326565-snowden-durov-security-telegram/

I might check out Telegram anyway. Even though it's not 100% secure it's still better then most messangers and doesn't burn data like Ricochet.