14 DAY TRIAL // Managing to have secure and private discussions on the Internet is becoming more and more difficult, especially in light of recent developments regarding the NSA surveillance programs, such as PRISM.
Several big-names in the tech industry are said to be involved with the NSA according to leaked documents of Edward Snowden. Thus, instant messaging services such as those provided by AOL, Google, Apple and Yahoo are not considered to be safe if you’re seeking for a secure way online.
Prism Break provides several options for those who want to avoid direct monitoring from the NSA.
For instance, Pidgin is an open source chat program that supports numerous types of chat networks. Used along with Off-the-Record Messaging (OTR), a simple plugin, chatting becomes encrypted and thus harder to track and figure out by government agencies.
Also, one Pirate Bay co-founder is also planning on launching an instant messenger solution that offers end-to-end encryption called Heml.is. Whenever this will happen, the service will surely be added to the list.
There are also several solutions dedicated to those who use Macs. Adium is a free, multiprotocol chat client that doesn’t host any IM services, but can be used for connecting to other services.
However, it comes with an option to encrypt conversation, which aids those who want to stay out of Big Brother’s reach.
Other apps are created specifically to offer encrypted instant messaging for mobile devices, running both Android and iOS.
Gibberbot is a private and secure OTR solution created for Android devices, while Surespot offers end-to-end encrypted messaging for devices running Google’s mobile operating system.
ChatSecure is an encrypted instant messaging app created for iOS devices.
It should be noted that while using such a program might keep you away from popular programs created by companies on NSA’s “friends list,” it doesn’t necessarily mean that your communications won’t be tracked by the NSA. It will, however, make their mission more difficult.
Since the NSA also has other means aside from the PRISM program to collect data, namely by getting information before it even reaches servers of aforementioned companies, it is unclear how secure this types of communications really are.