A digital rights group known as Electronic Frontier Foundation, examined a number of electronic messaging systems and ranked them. EFF assessed apps that numbered more than three dozen according to their safety and security, AppleInsider stated in an article. From the findings, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s messaging systems not only fell short of EFF’s expectations but also ranked below Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). That development complicates the picture for BlackBerry considering that the company has been recently marketing itself as a provider of secure communication platforms.
EFF also took a look at other messaging apps from providers such as Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO). Also in focus was Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Skype. According to EFF, most of these services are no better than the basic email services in terms of protection against surveillance.
Although the digital rights group found Apple’s FaceTime and iMessage a little bit better than their peers, they also fell short in areas of targeted surveillance. However, EFF recognized that Apple documented the secure design of FaceTime and iMessage. BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s app known as BlackBerry Protected also passed this criterion. However, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and others failed.
EFF also tested to see whether the apps used encryption and provided an independent review. As concerns provision of end-to-end encryption, WhatsApp, AIM, Skype, SnapChat, Yahoo Messenger Hangout, Facebook Messenger and BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s BBM, failed. In fact, there is where the services were found to be on the same level with the basic email. Additionally, EFF recognized that electronic messaging apps that they looked at from BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), Facebook, Google and Microsoft lacked in independent review front.
For the test that looked into whether the apps offered protection on the past communications in the event that keys are compromised and whether their code had been audited. EFF stated that Apple’s FaceTime and iMessage once again passed both tests. However, BlackBerry Protected and BlackBerry Messenger and Skype fell short of the expectation.
Off the providers, Apple showed a remarkable improvement. Its messaging apps passed six criteria that EFF examined. For BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), the EFF findings mean that the company has much work to do in the messaging app front.
