Why You Should Stop Sending SMS from Android Messaging App

As an Android user, you are using various apps to send and receive messages. You will have been using WhatsApp and Messenger for years to send and receive the messages. Now, Apple has also introduced a new messaging app iMessage. It is a brilliant app that users can use to send and receive messages. Google has also announced that it will introduce a new Android messaging app for your android phone. Google will introduce new features in this Android messaging app to compete with the iMessage, WhatsApp and Messenger. When you install it in your android phone, it will change the default messenger of your android phone into the fully-featured chat platform.

Issues With The RCS Enabled SMS Sending Android Apps:

Most of the people are using various Android messaging apps to send and receive messages along with WhatsApp and Messenger. These apps are showing ads, purchases and coupons on your android phone. It means that these apps have become a money-spinner. The recent apps are showing that most of the countries are using RCS enabled apps to send and receive messages. These are the built-in apps in android phones. Now, the problem is that RCS enabled apps are facing some critical issues. The adverse situation is that they are not paying enough attention to this problem of the default android messaging apps. The RCS enabled apps are creating some glaring issues for android users. Therefore, android users should not use these apps to send and receive messages. They should try to move to WhatsApp or Messenger to send and receive messages.

How Cybercriminals Can Intercept The SMS Data?

As we know that SMS is the global platform to send and receive messages. It is available on the GSM phones. When the android users send a message by using this platform, their data is encrypted between the phone and the cell tower. If someone wants to intercept this data in the air, he will not get success. This is known as the network security of this platform. After that, the SMS is disappeared into the networks. Here, the real problem occurs. Its reason is that in the networks, these SMS are open for interception. Your SMS has to travel over different networks and systems to reach the destination. The most important example of this kind of attack is Chinese cyberattack. They have pulled the SMS of the senders and receivers according to their requirements.

How Whatsapp Has Fixed SMS Data Interception Issue?

WhatsApp had resolved this issue of data interception in 2016. For this reason, WhatsApp had introduced end-to-end encryption. Most of the users don’t know end-to-end encryption. End-to-end encryption means that your messages are secured by decryption keys. Only senders and receivers have access to these decryption keys. It means that only senders and receivers know that what you have sent. WhatsApp and networks don’t have access to your messages. Apple has also introduced the same security features in its iMessage app. The built-in Android apps are relying on the networks. Therefore, they can’t provide these kinds of security features to the senders and receivers.  As they can’t provide these kinds of security features, therefore, we should not use these apps to send and receive messages.

How Has Google Adopted An Updated SMS Architecture?

Google has also realized this issue. That’s why Google has decided to adopt a new and updated culture of SMS architecture. Google is going to introduce a new security version to encrypt the messages. For this reason, Google is working with the carriers. It means that your messages will be encrypted between your phone and Google’s servers. As we know that Google’s servers are the most secured. Therefore, no one will dare to intercept your SMS data. While sending messages with Google’s services, if your messages will be linked with the other RCS deployments, Google will mark them as unsecured. Now, the problem is that if you are using Google’s chat features to send messages but your recipients are using other RCS services, a problem will occur. Under such situation, Google will encrypt your messages by using its backend services. After that, your SMS will be sent to the backend services of the recipients.  It means that your SMS will be secured from your end. Now, it’s up to the recipients to secure these SMS from their end. Anyhow, you can encourage them to use Google’s chat services for secured communication.

Views of Germany’s SRLabs:

According to a dissertation help firm, Germany’s SRLabs has researched the security of the SMS through Android messaging app. According to their research, the security features of RCS SMS system are exposing to lots of data breaches. The hackers are using this data to hack mobile devices. The researchers have warned that the hackers can expose lots of data of the users. In this data, there comes the IP address of the device, interception and tracking of the device. In some cases, hackers can fully take over the accounts of the users. They are not offering sufficient domain and certificate validation process for the users. These kinds of security features are not enough to save the devices of users from hackers. If they want to save the devices of the users from these kinds of attacks, they have to take some essential security measures.

While discussing the security of the users while sending and receiving messages, we are not considering the technical details. We are just focusing on the end-to-end encryption of the data. If an Android messaging app is not providing end-to-end encryption, you should not use it to send and receive the SMS. Its reason is that this app can create lots of security problems for your device. We are not using our android phones just for sending and receiving messages. We are using them to perform other activities too. On these mobile devices, we save financial information. We also save login details of different accounts. The users are also using android devices to save other kinds of sensitive information. If hackers get access to your device, they will not only steal SMS data from your device. They will also steal other useful information from your device.