Signal is a free and open source software application for Android that employs end-to-end encryption. Through the use of the latter, the application allows users to send end-to-end encrypted data such as text, picture and video messages.
The application makes use of telephone numbers as contacts, calls and messages that utilizes the user’s data connection. Therefore, both parties linked to a particular conversation must have Internet access on their mobile devices. One of the primary privacy advantages that Signal offers its users is apart from encrypting the user’s conversations; it also provides them with proof that those discussions are in fact, a secret. Users are simply required to compare a set of digits or scan a QR code to verify the safety of their data.
The encrypted messaging app made by Open Whisper Systems have witnesses a 400 per cent increase in installations since the presidential elections, reported CNET. ‘We’ve never really seen any single event in the past that’s resulted in this kind of sustained, day-over-day, interest,’ said co-founder Moxie Marlinspike.
