The battle for the most secure messaging app continues each day. Less prominent apps are slowly gaining traction as major platforms make the moves. One of these platforms is Wickr, an encrypted messaging platform that intends to establish an authority in the communications field, helping organizations communicate safely. The not-so-popular platform was acquired by Amazon in June of 2021 and is mostly focused on servicing government agencies and organizations.
In July 2022, a little over a year after the acquisition, Amazon presented the preview version of AWS Wickr. But what does this service entail and how can it help businesses collaborate and exchange assets more securely through the cloud?
We’ll find out today.
What Is AWS Wickr?
AWS Wickr allows enterprises to send messages, perform video and voice calls, screen sharing, and share files confidently with an end-to-end encrypted service. New random keys encrypt each of these actions, making decryption impossible, even for AWS itself. Only the respective recipients can securely decrypt them.
The company emphasizes its security, saying that “Wickr does not have access to any encrypted communication conducted on our platform and conversations are never stored on our servers, thanks to our privacy-first architecture.”
Users can select what information gets logged to their data store in order to address the auditing and compliance issues. This data store where they can accumulate data is fully controlled by them. Their capabilities stretch further into being able to configure messaging options for ephemeral messages, setting permissions, and even defining security groups. Other services such as OpenID Connect (OIDC), Active Directory (AD), and single sign-on (SSO) can be integrated as well.
How Does Wickr Work & Why Use It?
The platform which primarily served mostly government agencies, and large enterprises, has been used by the U.S Department of Defense (DOD) to allow the Air Force, U.S Navy, and the Army to communicate and exchange information and unclassified data. This can be taken as stellar proof of its excellent security. AWS Wickr relies on its 265-bit end-to-end encryption protocol to secure all the exchanged information. Every call, file, and message can be decrypted only by the intended recipients, which means less risk, fraud, and data breaches. We’re talking here about the exchange of vital information that can lead to massive disasters.
Let’s take one real-life example in the use of Wickr. Besides the Department of Defense, other organizations including law enforcement, use Wickr to securely organize and execute confidential operations. Lieutenant Joe Bowers, who has been a law enforcement officer for over 30 years, has led tens and hundreds of operations concerned with searching and arresting criminals. He says that “The first rule of planning and execution: Without communications, you have nothing. And if your communications plan is broken, it is one of the first things to fix.” And Wickr has bridged their communications effectively.
Imagine, if law enforcement and DoD can trust their communications to Wickr, it means that their service can do wonders for your business. Stakeholders can exchange confidential information easily without the fear of complementation, and you can communicate with your teams securely while benefiting from 24/7/365 support that resolves all your issues.
Final Thoughts
AWS adds another application under its umbrella of services, allowing business teams to not only manage and transform data but also chat securely with one another. Teams can now secure sensitive information, establish tighter data governance policies, collaborate securely internally and externally, as well as increase administrative control, and supervise large communication networks.
At Blue Orange Digital, as a certified AWS partner, we take care of your data transformation needs and build cloud infrastructures that are efficient, scalable, and easy to manage. Our experts include PhDs, data engineers, visualization experts, and data scientists who can take full charge of your data needs.
Schedule a short call and let’s talk about your company long and short term goals, and how we can assist.
