Celeb photo leak: is sexting ever safe?

After stolen images of dozens of celebrities were published online this week, web users have been warned that it's not just the rich and famous who need to review their online security.

Anyone tempted to send raunchy messages or images should be aware of the risks, said security experts, who warned that any information sent or stored online could fall into the wrong hands.

Nevertheless, a range of online services claim to offer safer ways of sharing sensitive images or information:

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SnapChat

Predicated on the idea of security, SnapChat became a hit by offering a new kind of messaging that allowed people to send each other pictures and text that would self-destruct a few seconds after they had been viewed. But the system is not without its flaws. Recipients can still take screen-grabs of the pictures they have been sent (though the sender will be notified if they do), and there are also a range of third-party apps that allow users to log in to SnapChat to circumvent the service's deletion feature.

SnapChat messages can also potentially be intercepted during transmission, using what is known as man-in-the-middle attacks, the Daily Telegraph reports. Even though messages are encrypted, skilled hackers may be able to decrypt them.

Wickr

Mashable calls Wickr the "SnapChat for grown-ups". Launched in 2012 by a group of security experts, the app allows users to sends messages and photos that can be erased – and users can choose how long they want the message to exist, from one second to six days.Unlike SnapChat, Wickr does not store any messages. "We don't have any data on our servers, we're a zero knowledge system," the owner told [1.5]Motherboard. This means that notionally, once you delete a message, it should be gone forever. However, as a number of security analysts told Mashable, it is not enough to tell people your cryptography is safe, you have to be able to prove it, and many feel that so far Wickr has failed to do that.

Duet, Avocado, Between

A raft of new apps emerged a few years ago promising to offer a more intimate social media experience for people in relationships. These apps help couples share photos, memories and sweet nothing in a closed-loop system that doesn't include anyone else. Still, privacy concerns exist with these apps too. The Duet app description says that "Your conversations are saved forever and Duet becomes a digital lockbox for the people and memories you cherish most," but as [3]Slate notes, "the company does crack open those lockboxes to third parties that want to send you targeted offers".

Redact

React is a secure messaging app whose developers are so confident with its encryption that they offered a £10,000 reward to any hackers that can crack it. The Redact Secure Messenger app connects to a server allowing two handsets to connect together over a data connection, and then drops out, so the handsets are left with a direct line of communication, using triple-encrypted messages, The Guardian says. The Redact app may be safe, but it is not cheap at £3.99 on iTunes or £4.99 on the Google Play store and it is for text only, not pictures.