Since Skype was first launched in 2003, it has made a huge success, growing quickly to become one of the most popular apps worldwide. The user base of Skype has already reached 300 million users.

WhatsApp, on the other hand, has also been so popular, reaching around 1 billion users daily. Thus, it is only fair to have a comparison between the 2 messaging apps with respect to security. Here are some of the notable arguments that best describe both apps.

Skype Security

According to experts, Skype is not that secured, but this app uses encryption. So that makes all transactions, such as file transfers, Skype-to-Skype voice, and instant messages encrypted. Thus, it would protect you from potential security threats from malicious users, such as eavesdropping.

Likewise, the Skype client would create a unique 256-bit AES encryption key for a particular session each time you make a call. The said session key is there every time communication continues and for a fixed time after. Accordingly, upon making a call, Skype will then transmit the session key to the person you are going to call. This session key will then be used to encrypt the messages made in both directions.

However, not everything is encrypted for Skype because part of the call happens over the ordinary phone network, which is not encrypted. Moreover, Skype is vulnerable to malware that would monitor your calls as well as videos.

Another issue for Skype is its ability to determine the IP address by just showing the username. In fact, there are many apps online that would provide you with the IP address just by plugging the person’s username who you are looking to know about.

WhatsApp Security

WhatsApp uses the basic functions that are fully encrypted from one end to the other. Basically, it uses part of a security protocol from a reputable company Open Whisper Systems. Nevertheless, it has taken a number of hits, which has confused users regarding their understanding about encryption.

According to a reliable source, WhatsApp is able to force the creation of new encryption keys when users are offline. So, there is a possibility that the messages sent and received could be re-encrypted with new keys. Thus, they can be sent again for any messages unmarked as delivered.

WhatsApp also admits that a certain loophole exists. This can happen if someone will change their mobile phone, then the automatic security key will resend in order not to disrupt the service.

Researchers also expressed their concern that the app could have left hundreds of millions of accounts defenseless against hackers. This could have been done by clicking and opening malicious files, allowing hackers to interfere with the conversations, contacts, photos, videos, and more shared files of the victims.

However, WhatsApp has already fixed the problem, which was also targeting accounts of friends of the victims. The issue was known to be found at the end-to-end encryption that WhatsApp has been using.

Overall, when it comes to security, the same comparison with iOS and Android operating systems has kept on playing out users for years now. Perhaps Apple’s new marketing campaign is reason enough for consumers to switch from Android to iOS this time.

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