What is the most secure messaging/chat application available today?

[soarwitheagles]

My wife communicates daily with her family in Asia. She always uses Yahoo Messenger. I have noticed on several occasions that BitDefender or Kaspersky will stop viruses, trojan horses, etc. when using this chat application. I have infected one or more of my computers in the past using Yahoo Messenger. It seems to be more vulnerable than other chat apps.

Can anyone here tell me of a more secure/clean way to go on this?

The top 7 free apps at File Hippo include:

* AIM 7.3.6.4
* Google Talk 1.0.0.104 Beta
* Pidgin 2.7.1
* Skype 4.2.0.169
* Thunderbird 3.1
* Trillian Astra 4.2.0.20
* Windows Live Messenger 2010 Beta
* Yahoo! Messenger 10.0.0.1270

I realize there is a myriad of other chat apps as well.

Can anyone here point us to a program that is more secure and cleaner?

Thanks,

Soar

I found another list of the top 20 most used chat apps here:http://www.faqs.org/shareranks/6000,Most-used-chat-software

 

[Yami]

I use Pidgin, Skype and Windows Live Messenger regularly, with no troubles.

 

[KSoD]

The programs are only as secure as the person using them. Every program has benefits and flaws. Not a single one is perfect.

Dont click on any links, make sure your password is SECURE as well as the person with whom you are chatting with. This way you are in less chance of harm from your account being taken down as well as theirs.

If you get a message out of no where from a "friend" and it contains a link, contact them FIRST before clicking the link. Make sure that they truly did send it and they are not infected by a bot.

So really any program will do. Just have to find one your happy with.

 

[soarwitheagles]

I use Pidgin, Skype and Windows Live Messenger regularly, with no troubles.

Thanks Yami. We talked about going back to Skype. Years ago it was very reliable and we liked it too.

The programs are only as secure as the person using them. Every program has benefits and flaws. Not a single one is perfect.

Dont click on any links, make sure your password is SECURE as well as the person with whom you are chatting with. This way you are in less chance of harm from your account being taken down as well as theirs.

If you get a message out of no where from a "friend" and it contains a link, contact them FIRST before clicking the link. Make sure that they truly did send it and they are not infected by a bot.

So really any program will do. Just have to find one your happy with.

Mak,

Ok, thanks for the heads up. Yes, each time we got infected it was from opening a file from someone we did not know. We don't do that anymore.

Soar

 

[kmote]

It sounds like you're talking about the secure as in "won't cause you to get viruses" in which case Mak is right, while there are measures you can take to protect yourself, the best defense is common sense.

The other type of secure in this context is protecting the privacy of your conversation. This will invariably involve encrypting messages before they go over the network. If you choose to take this path you need to be careful as I believe certain algorithms are illegal in the US.

 

[soarwitheagles]

It sounds like you're talking about the secure as in "won't cause you to get viruses" in which case Mak is right, while there are measures you can take to protect yourself, the best defense is common sense.

The other type of secure in this context is protecting the privacy of your conversation. This will invariably involve encrypting messages before they go over the network. If you choose to take this path you need to be careful as I believe certain algorithms are illegal in the US.

Kmote,

Yes, that was my intended meaning of my using the word secure. Not worried about encryption simply because it's my wife video conferencing with her family members.

Some time ago I served on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border...now that was a different story!

Soar

 

[KSoD]

Soar,

The main thing to remember is to never click a link. Even from people that you know and are on your friend list. Like i stated above, contact them first to make sure the link is legit.

The reason being is this. Some infections that come from IM clients is so that a spam bot gives links to people on your friend list. So say i was infected and you were in my friend list. You will get an IM from me saying something like "Hey check out this site" and give you a link. If I didnt know i was infected and you didnt contact me first, you would just click the link and sure enough, you get the infection and send it on to your friend list.

These things can happen on any platform. I have used Trillian and linked all my IM accounts to 1 program, just to find out that some people were getting messages from me due to the client (program) sending it out to my friend list. When i was contacted first thing you must do is check your system and then from there change all your passwords for those accounts.

Again no program is perfect. They all have flaws. There is no 100% sure way to have any of them be "secure". It comes down to using common sense and being diligent in making sure not to click links, any link, sent to you. Making sure you ask first before doing so.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Soar,

The main thing to remember is to never click a link. Even from people that you know and are on your friend list. Like i stated above, contact them first to make sure the link is legit.

The reason being is this. Some infections that come from IM clients is so that a spam bot gives links to people on your friend list. So say i was infected and you were in my friend list. You will get an IM from me saying something like "Hey check out this site" and give you a link. If I didnt know i was infected and you didnt contact me first, you would just click the link and sure enough, you get the infection and send it on to your friend list.

These things can happen on any platform. I have used Trillian and linked all my IM accounts to 1 program, just to find out that some people were getting messages from me due to the client (program) sending it out to my friend list. When i was contacted first thing you must do is check your system and then from there change all your passwords for those accounts.

Again no program is perfect. They all have flaws. There is no 100% sure way to have any of them be "secure". It comes down to using common sense and being diligent in making sure not to click links, any link, sent to you. Making sure you ask first before doing so.

Ok Mak,

We will follow your good advice and in so doing, close the door to viruses, trojan horses, etc.

Thanks again for helping us keep out systems clean by exercising common sense.

Soar