The man who founded McAfee Anti-Virus has launched a new app aimed at providing secure instant messaging that can't be read by anyone but the intended recipient.
Chadder - pronounced "chatter" - which is a joint-venture between John McAfee's company Future Tense and a startup called Etransfr, is secure enough that the company claims even it can't see the messages that you sent. Text is encrypted by the sender, and transmitted as such to the recipient, whose app will then decrypt it again.
The system works using public key cryptography, which makes it possible for the server to pass on the information, and the key, without the information that is held within being compromised. This is important, because it keeps everything secure, but because it's a public key there is no complicated exchange of security certificates. This keeps the app simple, in fact we looked at it and it's no more difficult to use than Whatsapp.
Where it scores over the likes of Whatsapp is that it is entirely secure, and while Whatsapp can claim that messages are not kept on its servers, they don't say much about how secure those messages are, and who might be able to intercept and read them. If you want to share secrets, there's no doubt that Chadder is worth a look.
John McAfee is, of course, quite famous for his various run-ins with the law, including being under suspicion of shooting his next door neighbour while living in Belize. McAfee was eventually able to return to the US, but no doubt secure communications have been on his mind ever since.
The app is already available on the Android and Windows Phone stores and an iOS version is being tested by Apple at the moment, and is expected to appear within a few weeks.
Read more: WhatsApp Alternatives: Six instant messaging apps
Via: PCMag