Which messengers do our oligarchs, politicians, and military use? Ever wondered?
“The comrade major leaked the entire correspondence from the working groups!!!”
Usually after this phrase, Business enters a period of extreme adventures.
So what should you use? Telegram and WhatsApp are convenient, but everyone says they’re dangerous. Disposable or Korean peer-to-peer messengers are inconvenient and annoying.
What does Big Business use? How do our oligarchs and politicians communicate?
Every OSSG Security Audit starts with the question of secure data exchange.
And here we warmly welcome you to the world of paranoia and distrust.
This is an interesting question with a non-obvious answer and many different opinions — so it gets passed to the OSSG Cyber Lab. And as everyone knows, when OSSG takes on a task, the question gets broken down to the molecular level.
We analyze 14 of the most popular messengers across 7 criteria:
1. Protocol cryptography — encryption algorithms, E2EE, per-message keys, FIPS/NIST compliance
2. Account protection — mandatory passwords, SIM binding, SIM-swap attack risks, two-factor authentication
3. Server-side data protection — cloud backups, server storage, encryption in transit
4. Verification & audit — open-source code, independent audits, FIPS/NATO/NIAP certifications
5. Corporate management (UEM) — remote wipe, device deactivation, OS vulnerability scanner, compliance
6. Real attack vectors — OpSec, physical device access, SS7 vulnerabilities, metadata interception
7. Local storage — database encryption, keystore, whether the key is stored separately from data, SQLCipher
Maximum score: 140 points (20 per criterion).
Enjoy the results (full details in the slides):
• (134 pts) BlackBerry SecuSUITE — NATO, NSA CSfC, encrypts metadata + content
• (127 pts) BBM Enterprise — OS vulnerability scanner, remote wipe in minutes
• (117 pts) Briar — P2P without servers, Tor by default, works without internet
• (108 pts) Signal — minimal data on servers, gold standard of cryptography
• (105 pts) Wickr Me / AWS — E2EE without registration, disappearing messages, Amazon
• (97 pts) iMessage — Secure Enclave, but Apple has access to backups
• (74 pts) WhatsApp — Signal Protocol, but Meta collects metadata
• (68 pts) Telegram — E2EE only in Secret Chats (95% don’t use it)
• (64 pts) Viber — closed source, impossible to verify
• (51 pts) MS Teams — full admin access, eDiscovery
• (44 pts) Slack — no E2EE, data used for AI training
• (37 pts) Google Chat — everything serves the advertising model
• (29 pts) Skype — part of PRISM, effectively dead
• (11 pts) SMS — SS7 vulnerability, no encryption
Communication and workplace security is just one brick in the fortress of Corporate Security.
OSSG builds your security architecture comprehensively.
If you’re already a large organization and have long outgrown the “security guard at the front desk” level, and your current security team can’t keep up with modern trends (cybersecurity, compliance, international standards) — don’t wait for a Sign from above. This is it.
Write to us right now.