The world is full of messengers and it feels like most people use WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal. These are joined by more community-driven projects such as Discord, Slack or Microsoft Teams. They all have their individual advantages and disadvantages and if you take a look at the usual security sites (kuketz or privacy-manual) you will quickly realize:
There is not THE one messenger that everyone thinks is great and is recommended for use.
One is easy to use, the other is highly secure, but not suitable for friends and family. The aim of the whole thing here is not to operate an anonymous platform that is resistant to access by the authorities, but rather that we can all communicate with each other securely and confidently, while remaining in control of our data and without all our data being exploited commercially. At the same time, we must not forget the people who don't have any in-depth IT knowledge and believe that encryption in WhatsApp is cryptographic voodoo magic.
We will briefly discuss the individual advantages and disadvantages here, but we can summarise them as follows:
If you don't care about further explanations and just want to try it out, then this way!
Email is a marvellous example of how distributed communication works and how anyone (who wants to) can operate their own email server. In short, all you need is your own domain so that anyone in the world can set up and reach any other address. This was also the recipe for the success of email and still is today.
- SENDER A writes an email to RECIPIENT B via email client using their own EMAILSERVER A
- EMAILSERVER A asks MX entry the DNS of the target domain for EMAILSERVER B: Which EMAILSERVER is responsible for DOMAINNAME?
- Answer from the DNS who EMAILSERVER B is and should be used.
- EMAILSERVER A sends its email to EMAILSERVER B via SMTP.
- RECIPIENT B can collect/receive its emails from EMAILSERVER B via POP3 or IMAP.Nowadays, however, fewer and fewer people or organisations operate their own email server (for NAME@WISHDOMAIN) and instead use a free service (e.g. NAME@gmail.com), which creates an undesirable centralization and dependency. email is increasingly only used in a professional environment. Young people do not use it at all or only rarely. Nevertheless, email is still a secure bank and key service on the Internet. Email is becoming increasingly important alongside SMS, especially for two-factor authentication.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Email is not suitable for simple, short and fast messages such as Whatsapp, Telegram, Signal and the like. IM services are extremely fast and easy to set up for the user. As a rule, an email address or mobile phone number is required as a user name. Authentication takes place via SMS/two-factor, sometimes even without user action. This is why most people communicate via one of these IM services. When it comes to groups and social media-type functions, email is completely out. When it comes to groups, messengers quickly reach their limits (class chat comes to mind).
A good overview of the services can be found here: www.messenger-matrix.de
- SENDER A writes a message to RECIPIENT B via their app.
- The app sends the message to IM service X.
- This is followed by internal processing within the IM service X network.
- IM service X sends the message to RECIPIENT B's app.Although each IM service has its own special features and requirements, the following advantages and disadvantages apply to most of the top 5:
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Matrix is an open-source protocol that can be used by anyone. It is distributed in the same way as email, but is particularly suited to the modern possibilities of communication and accessibility. Be it authorisations, rooms (groups), end-to-end encryption or trust settings between devices. This makes it interesting for authorities and organisations, for example, which can use it to offer their employees their own separate IM services.
gematik: TI-Messenger is based on the Matrix protocol
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If you don't want to run your own Matrix server, you can register with a free Matrix service (as with email): matrix.org or mozilla.org. A list of other known home servers can be found here.
- SENDER A writes a message to RECIPIENT B via its Matrix client.
- MATRIXSERVER A reads the ‘server’ file located on the web page DOMAINNAME: Which MATRIXSERVER is responsible for DOMAINNAME?
- MATRIXSERVER A sends its message to MATRIXSERVER B via MATRIX.
- MATRIXSERVER B sends the message to the matrix client of RECIPIENT B.
We now have the MATRIXSERVER for the addresses @USER:DOMAINNAME. Without this, we would only have the addresses @USER:MATRIXSERVER, which is not recommended. Result:
A MATRIXSERVER can be hosted anywhere (also e.g. at home) and keeps the short DOMAINNAMEN as part of the user name.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
A brief word about metadata: The messages are encrypted, but the metadata is not (because it is federated and distributed). Matrix is not a high-security messenger in the sense of complete anonymity, but rather a balancing act between email and e.g. Signal. The convenience of multi-devices as with Telegram (without having to rely on your mobile phone), but on your own server under your own control. When communicating between server A and B, the metadata is only generated on the two servers. The path in between is encrypted via HTTPS.
OK, convinced, how can I join in? There are several ways to communicate with the Matrix protocol.
The simplest way is to test via the normal Matrix.org server (with a @USERNAME:matrix.org address).
The supreme discipline is of course to operate your own Matrix server with FreeBSD.
This means that you now have complete control and can use your own individual address, e.g. @NAME:OWNDOMAIN
For the first steps and what can be done with a matrix address, I have dedicated a separate article.