Protects against the following threat(s):
These are our recommendations for encrypted real-time communication.
Versleutelde Messengers¶
Deze boodschappers zijn geweldig voor het beveiligen van jouw gevoelige communicatie.
Signal¶
Signal is een mobiele app ontwikkeld door Signal Messenger LLC. The app provides instant messaging and calls secured with the Signal Protocol, an extremely secure encryption protocol which supports forward secrecy1 and post-compromise security.2
Signal requires your phone number for registration, however you should create a username to hide your phone number from your contacts:
- In Signal, open the app's settings and tap your account profile at the top.
- Tap Username and choose Continue on the "Set up your Signal username" screen.
- Enter a username. Your username will always be paired with a unique set of digits to keep your username unique and prevent people from guessing it, for example if you enter "John" your username might end up being
@john.35. By default, only 2 digits are paired with your username when you create it, but you can add more digits until you reach the username length limit (32 characters). - Go back to the main app settings page and select Privacy.
- Select Phone Number
- Change the Who Can See My Number setting to: Nobody
You can optionally change the Who Can Find Me By Number setting to Nobody as well, if you want to prevent people who already have your phone number from discovering your Signal account/username.
Contact lists on Signal are encrypted using your Signal PIN and the server does not have access to them. Persoonlijke profielen worden ook versleuteld en alleen gedeeld met contacten waarmee je chat. Signal supports private groups, where the server has no record of your group memberships, group titles, group avatars, or group attributes. Signal has minimal metadata when Sealed Sender is enabled. Het afzenderadres is versleuteld samen met de inhoud van het bericht, en alleen het adres van de ontvanger is zichtbaar voor de server. Verzegelde afzender is alleen ingeschakeld voor mensen in uw contactenlijst, maar kan ingeschakeld zijn voor alle ontvangers met een verhoogd risico om spam te ontvangen.
Het protocol was onafhankelijk gecontroleerd in 2016. The specification for the Signal protocol can be found in their documentation.
We hebben nog enkele extra tips over het configureren en verharden van jouw signaalinstallatie:
Signaalconfiguratie en Hardening
Molly (Android)¶
If you use Android and your threat model requires protecting against Targeted Attacks you may consider using this alternative app, which features a number of security and usability improvements, to access the Signal network.
Molly is an alternative Signal client for Android which allows you to encrypt the local database with a passphrase at rest, to have unused RAM data securely shredded, to route your connection via Tor, and more. It also has usability improvements including scheduled backups, automatic locking, and the ability to use your Android phone as a linked device instead of the primary device for a Signal account.
Downloads
Molly is updated every two weeks to include the latest features and bug fixes from Signal. The exception is security issues, which are patched as soon as possible. That said, you should be aware that there might be a slight delay compared to upstream, which may affect actions such as migrating from Signal to Molly.
Note that you are trusting multiple parties by using Molly, as you now need to trust the Signal team and the Molly team to deliver safe and timely updates.
There is a version of Molly called Molly-FOSS which removes proprietary code like the Google services used by both Signal and Molly, at the expense of some features like push notifications. There is also a version called Molly-UP which is based on Molly-FOSS and adds back support for push notifications with UnifiedPush, but it requires self-hosting a program on a separate computer to function. All three versions of Molly provide the same security improvements.
Molly and Molly-FOSS support reproducible builds, meaning it's possible to confirm that the compiled APKs match the source code.
SimpleX Chat¶
SimpleX Chat is an instant messenger that doesn't depend on any unique identifiers such as phone numbers or usernames. Its decentralized network makes SimpleX Chat an effective tool against Censorship. Berichten en bestanden die in privéruimten worden gedeeld (waarvoor een uitnodiging nodig is) zijn standaard E2EE, net als één-op-één spraak- en videogesprekken.
SimpleX Chat werd gecontroleerd door Trail Bits in oktober 2022.
SimpleX Chat supports basic group chatting functionality, direct messaging, and editing of messages and markdown. E2EE audio- en video-oproepen worden ook ondersteund. Your data can be exported and imported onto another device, as there are no central servers where this is backed up.
Briar¶
Briar is an encrypted instant messenger that connects to other clients using the Tor Network, making it an effective tool at circumventing Censorship. Briar kan ook verbinding maken via Wi-Fi of Bluetooth wanneer hij in de buurt is. Briar's lokale mesh-modus kan nuttig zijn wanneer de beschikbaarheid van internet een probleem is.
Downloads
Om een contact toe te voegen aan Briar, moet je eerst beide elkaar toevoegen. Je kunt briar:// links ruilen of de QR-code van een contactpersoon scannen als deze dichtbij zijn.
The client software was independently audited, and the anonymous routing protocol uses the Tor network which has also been audited.
Briar heeft een volledig gepubliceerde specificatie.
Briar supports forward secrecy1 by using the Bramble Handshake and Transport protocol.
Aanvullende opties¶
Warning
These messengers do not have forward secrecy1, and while they fulfill certain needs that our previous recommendations may not, we do not recommend them for long-term or sensitive communications. Elke compromittering van sleutels tussen ontvangers van berichten zou de vertrouwelijkheid van alle eerdere communicaties aantasten.
Element¶
Element is the flagship client for the Matrix protocol, an open standard for secure decentralized real-time communication.
Messages and files shared in private rooms (those which require an invite) are by default E2EE, as are one-to-one voice and video calls.
Profielfoto's, reacties en bijnamen zijn niet versleuteld.
Group voice and video calls are not E2EE and use Jitsi, but this is expected to change with Native Group VoIP Signalling. Groepsgesprekken hebben momenteel geen authenticatie, wat betekent dat ook deelnemers van buiten de zaal aan de gesprekken kunnen deelnemen. Wij raden je aan deze functie niet te gebruiken voor privévergaderingen.
The Matrix protocol itself theoretically supports forward secrecy1, however this is not currently supported in Element due to it breaking some aspects of the user experience such as key backups and shared message history.
Het protocol is in 2016 onafhankelijk gecontroleerd. The specification for the Matrix protocol can be found in their documentation. The Olm cryptographic ratchet used by Matrix is an implementation of Signal’s Double Ratchet algorithm.
Session¶
Session is een gedecentraliseerde messenger met een focus op private, veilige en anonieme communicatie. Session biedt ondersteuning voor directe berichten, groepschats en spraakoproepen.
Session uses the decentralized Oxen Service Node Network to store and route messages. Elk versleuteld bericht wordt door drie knooppunten in het Oxen Service Node Network geleid, waardoor het voor de knooppunten vrijwel onmogelijk wordt zinvolle informatie te verzamelen over degenen die het netwerk gebruiken.
Session maakt E2EE mogelijk in één-op-één chats of gesloten groepen met maximaal 100 leden. Open groepen hebben geen beperking wat het aantal leden betreft, maar zijn open van opzet.
Session was previously based on Signal Protocol before replacing it with their own in December 2020. Session Protocol does not support forward secrecy.1
Oxen requested an independent audit for Session in March 2020. The audit concluded in April 2021:
The overall security level of this application is good and makes it usable for privacy-concerned people.
Session has a whitepaper describing the technical details of the app and protocol.
Criteria¶
Wij zijn niet verbonden aan de projecten die wij aanbevelen. Naast onze standaardcriteriahebben wij een duidelijke reeks eisen ontwikkeld om objectieve aanbevelingen te kunnen doen. Wij stellen voor dat je jezelf vertrouwd maakt met deze lijst voordat je een project kiest, en jouw eigen onderzoek uitvoert om er zeker van te zijn dat je de juiste keuze maakt.
Minimale vereisten¶
- Has open-source clients.
- Does not require sharing personal identifiers (phone numbers or emails in particular) with contacts.
- Uses E2EE for private messages by default.
- Supports E2EE for all messages.
- Has been independently audited.
Beste geval¶
Onze best-case criteria geven aan wat wij zouden willen zien van het perfecte project in deze categorie. Het is mogelijk dat onze aanbevelingen geen of niet alle functies bevatten, maar degene die dat wel doen kunnen hoger gerangschikt worden dan andere op deze pagina.
- Supports forward secrecy1
- Supports Future Secrecy (Post-Compromise Security)2
- Has open-source servers.
- Decentralized, i.e. federated or P2P.
- Uses E2EE for all messages by default.
- Supports Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS.
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Forward secrecy is where keys are rotated very frequently, so that if the current encryption key is compromised, it does not expose past messages as well. ↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Future Secrecy (or Post-Compromise Security) is a feature where an attacker is prevented from decrypting future messages after compromising a private key, unless they compromise more session keys in the future as well. This effectively forces the attacker to intercept all communication between parties, since they lose access as soon as a key exchange occurs that is not intercepted. ↩↩