The number one problem with all messaging apps is their need for a mobile number to use the app.
Privacy is often thrown across the room by those that feel like they have absolutely nothing to worry about. However, this should not be a game of following the leader.
Cybercriminals are targeting the mobile channel more aggressively than ever before, and app developers must take a proactive approach to app security to combat this new aggression. The number of mobile malware attacking users of mobile devices is increasing rapidly each year.
Each year millions of people fall victim to SIM jacking and Cybercrimes. Public figures, Companies and Employees, Finance industry, Law enforcement, and Journalists.
And whats one of the most significant danger zones? Mobile messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal.
In 2021, an estimated 3.09 billion mobile phone users accessed over-the-top messaging apps to communicate, and this figure is projected to grow to 3.51 billion users in 2025. WhatsApp is the most popular mobile messenger app worldwide and has accumulated over two billion monthly active users. And what’s the number one problem with all these messaging apps? And not just Whatsapp, is their need for a mobile number to use the app. Which requires users to disclose their personally identifiable information.
In fact, your phone number may have now become an even stronger identifier than your full name. Phone numbers are the go-to piece of information by Big Tech and hackers. They can reveal information from our offline worlds, including where we live, credit and bank details, date of birth, location tracking and more.
Like an ID card or better still, a digital passport, your phone number is a vital piece of personal information.
There is widespread concern among the general public about how companies – and the government – are using their personal data.
It is such a common condition of modern life that roughly six-in-ten. adults say they do not think it is possible to go through daily life without having data collected about them by companies or the government.
Signal
Even Signal, the relative newcomer in the messenger app space, is far from perfect. Whilst it purports to be a privacy beacon amongst more shadowy messengers, Signal still requires users to disclose personally identifiable information, notably your personal phone number. The fact that Signal, being a US-based IT service provider, is subject to the CLOUD Act only makes this privacy shortfall worse.
WhatsApp
With two billion global active users, WhatsApp is the most popular instant messenger. However, its widely accepted weak privacy protection, which results from the service’s business model, exposes too many avoidable risks.
Facebook, the owner of WhatsApp, generates its revenue simply by selling targeted advertisements. Therefore, the more data it has, the more it has to sell, and the more “value” they add to other corporations who want to use it – all at your expense. It will come as no surprise, WhatsApp cannot be used without disclosing personally identifiable information.
Telegram
Telegram entered the messenger market four years after WhatsApp, way back in 2013. It neatly positioned itself and still does, as the privacy messenger because corporate interests do not influence it. But it’s a myth to say it’s a safe and secure messenger. Telegram’s technology stack and servers rely on cloud-based solutions spread over multiple different locations to prevent service interruptions by state authorities.
This is no doubt welcomed, but it still leaves your messages permanently stored on its server, where they could, in theory, be read by the service provider at any time. And we come back to the number one problem with all messenger apps; they need your personal mobile number to use it.
More than eight-in-ten Americans are concerned about the amount of personal information social media sites and advertisers know about them.
If you want online privacy, change your phone number immediately Your phone number wasn’t designed to be a universal online identification system. With SIM jacking and personal data phishing on the rise, now is the time to ditch your personal digits.
SDPN – secure decentralized phone numbers
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