Please Stop Writing Secure Messaging Tools (2015)

zeta0134 wrote: post #2

Looks like this site is being hugged to death, Google's cache works though: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:pwT4ik...

Archive.org cache: https://web.archive.org/web/20161019151428/https://dymaxion....

Re: Please Stop Writing Secure Messaging Tools (2015)

#5

Post by EGreg » Mon, Oct 23, 2017, 5:58 PM UTC

I totally agree with this guy, but who is he in the industry? Someone famous for something? Just curious.

Re: Please Stop Writing Secure Messaging Tools (2015)

#6

Post by throwa34943way » Mon, Oct 23, 2017, 6:02 PM UTC

> Because we have too many other tools we also need.

Yes, but secure messaging is a well understood domain I suppose so it's the kind of app that is simple(not easy) to write and most tools compete on UX. A lot of tools on the list at the end have complex domains that are not that well understood by stock developers, or they might require a lot of R&D or actually talking to teams that have a problem to solve.

Furthermore it is extremely difficult to market a lot of these tools to corporations. IM? it's fairly easy.

The situation with secure messaging apps today isn't so different than social networks in the 2000's. It's a formula and it's easier to raise capital on that formula at the moment.

Re: Please Stop Writing Secure Messaging Tools (2015)

#7

Post by gumby » Mon, Oct 23, 2017, 6:03 PM UTC

EGreg wrote: post #5

I totally agree with this guy, but who is he in the industry? Someone famous for something? Just curious.

> I totally agree with this guy, but who is he in the industry?

This "guy" is a security professional; her linkedIn profile shows her working in serious security roles for over a decade.

Re: Please Stop Writing Secure Messaging Tools (2015)

#8

Post by Jtsummers » Mon, Oct 23, 2017, 6:04 PM UTC

EGreg wrote: post #5

I totally agree with this guy, but who is he in the industry? Someone famous for something? Just curious.

Just a heads up, the author is a woman. I just pulled up her other essays to read, but here is her bio from this site https://dymaxion.org/me.html.

Re: Please Stop Writing Secure Messaging Tools (2015)

#9

Post by pingiun » Mon, Oct 23, 2017, 6:04 PM UTC

I think matrix forms a nice basis for a secure chat platform. Only the apps are not really all that good. The desktop apps are electron based and the android app is just not up to par with telegram or WhatsApp.

Re: Please Stop Writing Secure Messaging Tools (2015)

#10

Post by gumby » Mon, Oct 23, 2017, 6:07 PM UTC

The essay I wish she had written would have said, "we don't need more 'secure messaging systems' -- we should be making all the following tools secure by design"

For example, (and whether you love them or hate them) Apple takes this seriously: your fingerprints don't leave the device and are implemented by a piece of hardware in such a way that even Apple doesn't have access to them. Compare that to the Android implementations which have fingerprints in the filesystem. I'm not intending to hold them up as some paragon, simply showing that securing information is more than just a messaging issue.