The 3 Most Secure and Private Messaging Services

In the age of Internet surveillance, private and secure messaging is a necessity. The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently published a thorough analysis measuring the security and privacy of a long list of mobile and Internet messaging services. We are mentioning here the top 3:

1. Chatsecure is a free and open source encrypted chat application for iPhone and Android. It is developed by the Guardian Project and meets each of the EFF's qualifications, but only when used in conjuncture with the Tor-powered Orbot privacy plugin.

2. CryptoCat is an open source encrypted messaging service available on the Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera browsers, as well as the Mac OS X operating system and the iPhone. CryptoCat's developers were seeking funds over the summer to build an Android version and to enable encrypted video chat as well.

3. Textsecure is a secure messaging platform for iOS, and secure calling and texting platform for Android. Each is free and open-source and provides end-to-end encryption and secure storage.