Avoid Your Own Text Messaging Scandal by Learning About Secure Messaging
The Internet Age has brought with it communications potential in ways humans a century ago could never have dreamed. In an instant, we can call each other, from anywhere in the world. Messages can be sent in the blink of an eye. Imagine if Paul Revere had that ability when he shot across New England on horseback shouting “The British are coming!” We could have at least saved the horse the trouble.
Despite all the advantages of text messaging and mobile email service, this brave new world of telecommunications has brought with it a slew of security issues. As Radar Online reports, celebrities have quite literally been caught with their pants down because they sent a text message that wasn’t secure. Healthcare providers have gotten slammed with HIPAA lawsuits when using mobile medical apps to communicate with each other that weren’t secure. Luckily, even with the risks, you can send personal or private messages, without having to worry about prying eyes.
Three Tips for More Secure Messaging
- Don’t Respond to Anyone You Don’t Know
- Use Secure Text Messaging Applications
- Don’t Send Any Messages on an Open Network
As PC World writes, the number one rule of secure messaging is to never respond to anyone you don’t know. This goes for both text messaging and secure email service. The reason is simple enough: those sending unsolicited messages are often just trying to install a data mining trojan onto your device.
As Lifehacker details, many software companies have popped up over the last few years to address HIPAA concerns in the healthcare industry and privacy concerns for Americans looking to ward off the unwarranted gaze of the NSA. Out of this, secure messaging applications were born. While these apps don’t make it impossible for those with the right technology to decrypt your messages, they make it a lot harder.
One of the simplest things you can do to keep from having a texting scandal is to not use any text messaging or email apps that use data on an open network. In other words, if you don’t need a password to be on a wi-fi network, neither does anyone else, and that gives them a good shot and reading the data you’re sending back and forth from your device.
What do you do to secure text messages or emails that you send? Let us know in the comment section below. Read more.