Growing up, SMS messaging was an integral part of our day-to-day life, before the introduction of touchscreen phones, internet access, or apps like WhatsApp. However, it suddenly became a thing of the past with the sudden adoption of internet-based apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. Now, SMS are primarily used for marketing, banking, and official communication. Yet, many smartphone users still rely on communicating via SMS, where the internet can not be accessed. However, this continued reliance puts them at a huge risk of exposing their personal information to third parties, scammers, and others. Therefore, know about these 5 reasons why you need to stop using SMS messaging
5 reasons to stop SMS messaging for safety
- SMS do not have E2EE support: Many Android users may not be aware of the fact that SMS do not come with End-to-end encryption (E2EE) support. This is a crucial security feature that keeps chats private between two users. Hence, these messages are sent over cellular networks, which can be easily accessed by scammers with the right tools.
- Conversations are not private: Since the messages are not encrypted, corporations and network carriers can easily access your SMS messages and gather personal information without consent.
- Android users are vulnerable to scams: SMS is one of the most common sources of phishing attacks and SIM swapping scams. Scammers pretend to be from a government or banking authority and manipulate smartphone users to click on malicious links, share personal information, etc.
- Several phone carriers retain your SMS data that may include text or metadata for two major reasons. One reason is technical reasons to ensure that the messages are delivered timely, or for legal requirements in case of an investigation. These data can also be used to gather information about the user, track their movement, and other information that can be leveraged for blackmail.
- At times, we mistakenly send SMS to the wrong contact, and they can also not be edited or unsend, like the internet-based apps. Hence, a single message to the wrong contact can impact a user’s reputation or put them at several kinds of risk.
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