Most of the communications we send or receive can be accessed by unauthorized parties: email is typically sent in clear text, voice communications can be intercepted, and instant messages or Facebook Messenger posts are typically not secure. Plus, our communications can live forever on a server or on the recipients’ devices, increasing the potential data leaks or some other form of unauthorized access.

Enter StealthChat, a free service provided by Rockliffe Systems. StealthChat provides a number of important capabilities, including instant/chat messaging, the ability to place VoIP calls, and the ability to share images, all with robust encryption to ensure that unauthorized parties cannot gain access to your content. All content is encrypted both on the device and in transit. Plus, senders can establish a “burn” time for each message, making it disappear a set amount of time after it has been read. Moreover, content sent via StealthChat never gets written to a server, but instead resides only on the senders’ and recipients’ devices.

StealthChat competes with a number of offerings, including WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger, SnapChat and others. In fact, Rockliffe unofficially calls StealthChat “SnapChat for Professionals”. What sets StealthChat apart is that, unlike some of its competitors, it provides encryption at rest, provides VoIP capability that is as secure as chat messages, and nothing is stored on Rockliff’s or anyone else’s servers.

While much has been made of these types of encrypted, ephemeral communications for illicit activities, including terrorist operations, they have tremendous value for legitimate purposes. For example, traders sending information to one another, healthcare professionals sharing patient information, or business people sending confidential information, all can make use of StealthChat. Of course, any information that should be archived for long periods needs to be sent via more traditional communications channels and should not be sent via StealthChat for obvious reasons, but much of our communications doesn’t fall into this category and can make good use of the security that StealthChat provides.