Signal Vs WatsApp
Today we’re discussing about getting rid of WatsApp and adopt Signal. Let us discuss in a brief why Signal is better than WatsApp and why should we adopt this?
Before going into detail, let us see some of the recent facts. On February 21, 2018, Moxie Marlinspike and WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton founded Signal Foundation, nonprofit organisation. In January 2021, WhatsApp announced update to Privacy Policy which states that WhatsApp will share user data with Facebook. Users will be forced to accept by February 8, 2021, or stop using the app. Previously, users could opt-out of such data sharing, but the new policy removes this option. Signal endorsement by Elon Musk and Edward Snowden via Twitter. On January 7, 2021. Signal saw a surge in new user registrations.
Communications between users are automatically end-to-end encrypted. WapsApp uses Open Whisper System and Signal uses Signal Protocol. However, both Watsapp and Signal use TextSecure Protocol, but the basic difference is the implementatoin. WatsApp implements the customised version of XMPP which is proprietary of Facebook whereas implementation of Signal id readily available in Github as it available for download and use . So, for Signal, the architecture is open source and everyone knows what is going on and since the code base is available for review, tens of thousand developer can contribute to this.
Signal generates keys by users, not by servers. The app employs a trust-on-first-use mechanism in order to notify the user if a correspondent’s key changes. WatsApp uses IMEI number or Wifi Address for device identification, so the information about the mobile device is stored in the WatsApp server. Therefore, these devices are identifiable easily by Facebook, for the purpose of generating insights. In case of Signal, only phone number is stored, device identification number in any form is not stored.
WatsApp adopts Store and forward mechanism with decentralised approach. In Signal the communication is peer-to-peer and centralised. WatsApp stored the messages in it’s server as and when it is arrives until the recipients receive the messages. But, Signal excludes users’ messages from non-encrypted cloud backups by default. Also, WatsApp is using a customised form of XMPP based protocols in their backend systems without necessarily exposing this fact to their end users.
However, the protocol and access mechanism is almost similar in both the platform, but, because of the change in privacy policy which allows facebook to use the data from WatsApp from Feb 2021, one should refrain using WatsApp in future. The privacy policy too, violates the principal of GDPR.
