The Rise of End-to-End Encryption Messaging Apps is Great For Privacy

Cybersecurity is a major challenge in 2023, as hackers and cybercriminals launch sophisticated attacks on personal and corporate data. With the rise in the popularity of messaging apps like Whatsapp and Messenger from Meta, Telegram, iMessage by Apple, and Signal, data security has never been such a critical need for virtually everyone on these platforms.

According to a recent report, many may not realize it, but they could have been exposed to multiple data breaches, where their sensitive information was stolen or compromised.

The Era of Messaging Apps and The Need for Privacy

Some of these messaging apps have commendable security systems that encompass end-to-end encryption (E2EE) but not all. Telegram, for example, has since its inception in August 2013 made user privacy a priority.

The now popular free-to-use messaging app, boasting 550 million monthly active users, ranks among the top ten most downloaded apps globally, according to a report by Backlinko.

Telegram puts user interest first by offering secure and private communication. In addition to not showing any ads—and it is committed to staying free forever.

While Telegram excels in ensuring the privacy of its users is guaranteed at all times, the same cannot be said for Meta’s WhatsApp and Messenger, which have been facing criticism for many years.

Concerns over data privacy on WhatsApp were exacerbated by a new privacy policy rolled out in January 2021. In the policy, WhatsApp said it would explicitly share user data with its parent company Meta – formerly Facebook, Dazeinfo reported on the matter.

While WhatsApp still uses end-to-end encryption, the news that it would be giving away the little info it did have on users to its parent company was worrying to many. Following the announcement of the new data-sharing policy, WhatsApp, saw its global downloads drop by 43% year-over-year in the first four months of 2021, according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data.

Despite the drop, WhatsApp remained on top with 172.3 million installs worldwide. Meanwhile, there was a knee-jerk reaction with global installs for Telegram spiking by 98% YoY to reach 161 million in the same period.
Signal, which was relatively new at the time, experienced an impressive 1,192% YoY increase in global installs to 64.6 million.

What is End-to-End Encryption?

Demand for messaging platforms that uphold data privacy is expected to keep growing as users become conscious of how their data is collected, stored, and used.

Many messaging platforms have adopted E2EE, including WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal. However, some like Slack, the workspace collaboration app is yet to move in this direction.

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a system of communication that protects data from being intercepted or tampered with by anyone other than the intended recipients.

It works by using cryptographic keys to encrypt and decrypt messages on the devices of the sender and receiver, without revealing the keys to any third party, such as a service provider or a network operator. This way, E2EE ensures that only the users communicating can read the messages and no one else.

E2EE is different from other forms of encryption, such as encryption in transit or server-side encryption, which only protect data while it is being transferred or stored on a server, Kaspersky explained in a related report.

In these cases, the service provider or the server owner can still access the data, either by design or by exploiting a vulnerability.

This poses a risk to the privacy and security of the users, especially if the data contains sensitive information, such as personal conversations, business documents, financial details, or legal proceedings.

E2EE is important because it can prevent data breaches, cyberattacks, surveillance, and censorship that could harm individuals, businesses, and society.

According to an article by IBM on “What end-to-end encryption means,” the average cost of a data breach in 2020 was $3.86 million globally and $8.64 million in the United States. These costs include detecting and responding to the incident, losing revenue and customers, and damaging reputation and trust.

Moreover, compromised data could also lead to identity theft, fraud, blackmail, harassment, or even physical harm.

Telegram – The Benchmark Privacy-Focused Messaging App With End-to-End Encryption

Although WhatsApp is still the most popular messaging app, the privacy-focused Telegram continues to attract users. Besides ensuring data privacy, the messaging app gives more power to its users, especially with the popular Telegram groups feature.

On top of Telegram’s 550 million monthly active users as of July 2021, the messaging app has seen its user base grow remarkably fast in the last three and a half years, adding 350 million, which is more than 60% of its total users.

Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov reported that the app gained 25 million new users in just 72 hours in January 2021—after WhatsApp announced a new data-sharing policy. This marked an average of 8.33 million new users per day.

In January 2023 alone, the app welcomed more than 100 million new users not to mention it has sustained an annual growth rate of 40% since its launch in 2013.

Telegram currently boasts 55.2 million daily active users combined on iOS and Android based on data from Apptopia – a 30% increase from November 2020.

The growth in Telegram’s user base shows that people are becoming more conscious about their privacy and are willing to shun platforms that compromise their security online. End-to-end encryption, while not a magic bullet, helps to keep user data secure and only visible to the relevant people in the conversation.

E2EE remains a vital tool for protecting data privacy without exposing it to third parties at any point in the communication process.

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