Now apps are an integral part of our daily lives. We wake up to alarm clock reminders, order coffee through a mobile app, check our account balance, communicate with friends via messengers and even find out complex questions like “how much are Queen Elizabeth coins worth” through specialized services. Every click, every tap on the screen creates a stream of data going through networks and storage. But have you ever wondered how secure these applications are? What happens to your personal data and who can access it? Today we would like to talk about the nuances in the world of digital security, understand how popular apps protect your information, and discuss how to use them as safely as possible.
Messengers: The Defense That Speaks for You
According to statistics, WhatsApp handles over 100 billion messages a day, and every single one of them is encrypted. Messengers are windows to the world of communication, and via them billions of messages pass every day. But what does that mean and what makes them secure? For example, apps like WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram actively use end-to-end encryption. For example, Signal, considered the security benchmark among messengers, uses the Signal Protocol. It is open source, and its security is regularly tested by experts.
How does it work? Each message is encrypted on your device before it is sent and decrypted only on the recipient’s device. Even the server through which the information is transmitted only sees the encrypted text. This means your messages remain invisible to hackers and even the owners of the app itself.
Advanced security features
- In WhatsApp, you can enable security checks to receive notifications when your encryption keys change.
- Telegram offers secret chats that use separate encryption keys and are not stored in the cloud.
- Signal provides a time-lock feature: messages are automatically deleted after a set period of time.
Tips for safe communication: Do not send personal information in regular chats. Use secret chats if necessary. And remember to activate two-factor authentication (2FA), which makes it harder for attackers to hack your account.
Financial Apps: A Digital Fortress for Your Money
Financial apps such as PayPal, Revolut or SberBank Online play an important role in managing our finances. But they also become a prime target for cybercriminals. This is why their security is built on three main pillars: biometrics, the well-known multi-factor authentication and data tokenization.
- Biometrics is a technology that utilizes a user’s unique physical data (i.e. fingerprints, facial or iris scans). For example, Apple Pay uses Face ID to authorize payments, making it nearly impossible for others to access your account.
- Tokenization works when you make a payment through Google Pay or Apple Pay, your real card number is replaced with a unique digital token. This eliminates the risk of data leakage, as the token is invalid without your device.
An additional measure of protection here can be push notifications of any suspicious activity. For example, if someone tries to log into your account, you will receive a notification immediately and can react quickly.
Popular financial application security technologies
| Technology | App Example | Advantage |
| Biometrics | Revolut, PayPal | Eliminate access without physical presence |
| Tokenization | Apple Pay | Protect payment data during transactions |
| Multi-factor authentication | SberBank Online | Increase account security |
| Transaction Encryption | PayPal, Wise | Eliminate data interception |
Additional tips for financial security: Use only trusted apps and download them from official stores (App Store or Google Play). Try to never save bank passwords in your browser or notes and enable notifications for every transaction to spot unauthorized activity quickly.
Amateur Apps for All Spheres of Life
Health Apps: Anonymization as Salvation
Health apps are becoming more popular every year. MyFitnessPal, Strava and other apps save your personal data about your workouts, nutrition, and even overall health. However, as the amount of information grows, so does the risk of leaks. But even here there are special technologies to protect your personal information, i.e. data anonymization.
How does it work? Instead of linking data directly to the user, apps use unique identifiers that make it impossible to link information to a specific person.
The security features of such apps are that they store data locally (for example, Apple Health stores data on your device, not in the cloud) and encrypt data (this is how Strava, after the military routes scandal, implemented additional security measures such as hidden routes and the ability to set private zones).
Additional user tip: Update apps regularly, as new versions often close vulnerabilities.
Apps for Special Hobbies: Secure Collecting
For coin collectors, apps also became indispensable helpers. Today they help users in identifying finds but also allow you to organize your collection in a convenient digital format. For example, Coin ID Scanner has an extensive database of over 150,000 coins and can identify foreign and rare specimens due to integration with artificial intelligence and neural networks. Scanning is possible through the phone’s camera, which is fast and convenient. At the same time, additionally to the identification, the app presents data on the features and key details of the coin, its coin rarity, historical value and potential market value.
But here you need to remember the value of your collection can go far beyond financial value – it has personal and historical significance. Leaking data about a collection can not only jeopardize its security, as well as draw unwanted attention to the owner. With applications such as Coin ID Scanner, collectors can focus on developing their collection without worrying about data protection.
One of the key security measures here is also local data storage. This means that information about your collection (from the value to the description of rare coins) is not sent to remote servers or made available over the Internet. What is more, Coin ID Scanner uses encryption technologies to protect your collection data. The strongest encryption standards protect the value, characteristics and photo data of the coins stored in the app, which means attackers will not be able to obtain encrypted information.
Security tip: Set a password on the app. If the app doesn’t have a built-in password feature, set up device-level security with a PIN, biometric identification, or a graphical key.
Your Data Is Your Power
Modern technologies, apps and services today are our partners and faithful companions in every step of everyday life. And today, behind many user-friendly interfaces are a powerful arsenal of strategies that protect your data. So, be informed, choose wisely, and make the most of your digital tools. Remember, the real power is in using technology but also in understanding how it makes your life more convenient and secure.