Decentralized, encrypted messaging tool Briar released its first public beta for Android, Bleeping Computer reports.
From the article: “Briar, an instant messaging service that works over the Tor network, has reached beta stage today, the app’s creators announced.
Only an Android app is available at the moment, which users can download from the Google Play Store here.
The Briar team also announced the conclusion of a security audit performed by Cure53, the same organization that reviewed other services such as SecureDrop, Cryptocat, and Dovecot.
The conclusion of the security audit is that Briar for Android provides ‘an overall good handling of matters linked to security and privacy.’ Furthermore, the code responsible with the app’s cryptography ‘was found to be exceptionally clear and sound, with no vulnerabilities spotted,’ said Cure53 in their report.
All bugs discovered during the audit were fixed in the Briar app’s beta version currently available on the Play Store.
Activists, journalists, and anyone who needs a safe way to communicate in private will love Briar.
Under the hood, Briar uses a peer-to-peer system with no central servers to relay information. People who communicate using Briar exchange messages directly with each other.
All communications are end-to-end encrypted, use forward secrecy, and don’t carry any metadata (which is somewhat important, some might say). Briar is also censorship resistant. This is because there are no central servers that a government can block to take down the entire service.”
Read the full article here.
Also in The Merkle, TechWorm, HotHardWare, and Android Police.