WhatsApp vs Signal – Which is more secure?

Since WhatsApp announced its updated privacy policy, many users are now leaving the Facebook owned platform and moving to its competitor Signal, a similar cross-platform encrypted messaging service.

Signal saw a surge in downloads and users after WhatsApp released its updated privacy policy as users were concerned for the safety of their private data. Even Tesla’s own Elon Musk made the recommendation for the switch in his own way on Twitter.

Signal is being recommended by a number of techies, who claim that the encrypted messaging service is much safer than WhatsApp when it comes to handling of user data.

Read more: WhatsApp offers clarification on updated privacy policy.

The comparison between the two messaging platforms was made much simpler by Rafay Baloch, a popular information security researcher and cybersecurity expert.

In one of his tweets, the cybersecurity expert outlined five main reasons why Signal is more secure than WhatsApp when it comes to handling of user data.

According to Rafay Baloch, the encrypted messaging application “Signal is open source and entire source code for Android, iOS and Desktop is available for examination for any potential backdoors.”

“Signal is owned by a non-profit organization and not any tech-giant that has stakes in monetizing the data and has an appalling history and poor track record in terms of security and privacy” he added.

Compared to WhatsApp, the Signal messaging application stores minimal meta-data. According to the information security researcher, the only meta-data Signal app stores includes “phone number, time of account creation and last connection to Signal servers,”

However, the Facebook owned WhatsApp stores a “wealth of information such as IP address, model, battery consumption, app usage etc.”

“This means WhatsApp when hit with information disclosure request by law enforcement will be compelled to give complete information.” adds Rafay Boloch.

Furthermore, the tech expert adds that most of the security features like private chats and disappearing messages are introduced by Signal first and later copied by other messaging platforms, including WhatsApp.

Moreover, he adds that “Signal uses domain fronting for obscuring the traffic and hence making traffic analysis difficult for ISPs.” making the app more secure compared to the Facebook owned encrypted messaging service.

The information security researcher has a lot of useful information related to cybersecurity on his own website (https://www.rafaybaloch.com/).

Read more: PTA reviews the updated WhatsApp privacy policy.

Follow us on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram  for update.