Wickr

Last updated

Wickr Inc.
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Secure instant messaging
Founded2012 (2012)
FounderDr. Robert Statica, Kara Coppa, Christopher Howell, Nico Sell, York Sell
Headquarters
New York
,
United States
Key people
  • Joel Wallenstrom (CEO)
  • Chris Lalonde (COO)
  • Chris Howell (CTO)
Parent Amazon Web Services
Website www.wickr.com

Wickr is an American software company based in New York City, [1] known for its instant messenger application with the same name. The Wickr instant messaging apps allow users to exchange end-to-end encrypted and content-expiring messages, and are designed for iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux operating systems. Wickr was acquired by Amazon Web Services (AWS) mid-2021. They discontinued the free version of the app in December 2023. [2]

Contents

History

Wickr was founded in 2012. [3] Nico Sell served as the company's CEO until May 2015. She then became the co-chairman of Wickr and CEO of Wickr Foundation, the newly launched nonprofit whose seed funding was provided by the company, [4] Mark Fields who previously led CME's Strategic Investment Group, became the company's CEO. [5] He remained CEO until November 2016, when he was replaced by Joel Wallenstrom, co-founder of iSec Partners, becoming the company's CEO and President. [6] [7]

AWS acquired the company on 25 June 2021, [8] stopped accepting new users to Wickr Me on 31 December 2022, [2] and discontinued it on 31st December 2023. [9] [10]

Branding

The Wickr name and original logo were created by the Spanish artist Joan Bofill in 2012. In 2016, Daylight Design created a new logo and visual identity for the company. [11]

Products

Wickr Me
Developer(s) Wickr Inc.
Initial releaseJune 2012 (2012-06)
Final release(s)
Android5.85.4 [12]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 12 August 2021 [13]
iOS5.85.5 [14]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 17 August 2021 [15]
Windows, macOS, Ubuntu5.85.9 [16]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 5 August 2021
Operating system Windows, macOS, Ubuntu, iOS, Android
Type Instant Messaging
License Proprietary
Website wickr.com/me/

Wickr is known for producing secure messaging software, such as "Wickr Me". Their software received media coverage due to a security issue at a rival messaging company, Snapchat. [17]

In 2015, the Electronic Frontier Foundation gave Wickr a score of 5 out of 7 points on their "Secure Messaging Scorecard". [18] It received points for:

It was missing 2 points because:

In 2015, Wickr published a white paper outlining the encryption protocol that they use for end-to-end encryption. [19]

In 2015, the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced that Wickr earned four stars (out of five) in every applicable category for its effort to protect user privacy. [20]

Security programs

Since its launch, Wickr has undergone regular security audits by information security organizations, which have verified Wickr's code, security, and policies. [21] Wickr has also launched a bug bounty program that offers a reward to hackers who can find a vulnerability in the app. [22]

In December 2016, Wickr announced 'Wickr Professional', a new business collaboration and communication product designed to couple the functionality of tools like Slack with end-to-end encryption and ephemerality. [23]

In February 2017, Wickr opened one of its crypto protocols for public review on GitHub and published a paper, “The Wickr Messaging Protocol”, as an aid to those who wish to review the source code. [24] [25] [26] At the time of its publication, the crypto protocol was only used in the company's enterprise product, Wickr Professional. [25] The company said that its consumer product, Wickr Messenger, still uses another protocol and that they intend to replace this protocol with the one that they published. [25]

Expiring messages

Initially unveiled on iOS and later on Android, the Wickr Me app allows users to set an expiration time for encrypted communications. [27] In December 2014, Wickr released a desktop version of its secure communications platform. The release of the desktop Wickr app coincided with introducing the ability to sync messages across multiple devices, including mobile phones, tablets, and computers. [28]

After McKinsey & Company was contracted by the New York State Department of Corrections in 2014, top consultants and prison officers allegedly exchanged project documents over Wickr, keeping the procedure off public oversight and record requests. [29]

Government transparency advocates note that Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's use of Wickr destroys government records before any determination of whether they should be public can be made, under the Freedom of Information Act and state law. [30]

Funding

In March 2014, Wickr announced its Series A funding round of $9 million led by Gilman Louie of Alsop Louie Partners. The series also included investments from Juniper Networks and the Knight Foundation. [31]

In June 2014, Wickr announced its Series B funding round of $30 million led by Breyer Capital, including CME Group and Wargaming. [32]

On 12 October 2021, a Vice Motherboard article revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had invested $1.6 million into Wickr via the CIA's venture capital company In-Q-Tel. [33]

Gilman Louie is the former CEO of In-Q-Tel, and other investors, including Richard Clarke and Michael Wertheimer, also have close ties to the U.S. intelligence and national security communities. It is also known that Erik Prince, the founder of the controversial private security firm Blackwater, is one of the principal investors. [34]

Wickr Foundation

The Wickr Foundation is a non-profit founded by Wickr founder Nico Sell. [35] The foundation operates a social-impact venture fund with a global mission to advance the Private Web and transform how society uses the Internet. [36] In addition to educating the public on privacy and information security, Wickr Foundation is focused on incubating and investing in ideas that revolutionize user control and empower data ownership. [37]

The foundation is dedicated to providing information security and privacy training to human rights activists, policy-makers, children, and journalists, and leads several initiatives to raise global awareness of privacy and encourage the development of security-enhancing technologies. [38] [39]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Instant messaging</span> Form of communication over the internet

Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing immediate transmission of messages over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and triggers a transmission to the recipient(s), who are all connected on a common network. It differs from email in that conversations over instant messaging happen in real-time. Most modern IM applications use push technology and also add other features such as emojis, file transfer, chatbots, voice over IP, or video chat capabilities.

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a private communication system in which only communicating users can participate. As such, no one else, including the communication system provider, telecom providers, Internet providers or malicious actors, can access the cryptographic keys needed to converse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forward secrecy</span> Practice in cryptography

In cryptography, forward secrecy (FS), also known as perfect forward secrecy (PFS), is a feature of specific key-agreement protocols that gives assurances that session keys will not be compromised even if long-term secrets used in the session key exchange are compromised, limiting damage. For HTTPS, the long-term secret is typically the private key of the server. Forward secrecy protects past sessions against future compromises of keys or passwords. By generating a unique session key for every session a user initiates, the compromise of a single session key will not affect any data other than that exchanged in the specific session protected by that particular key. This by itself is not sufficient for forward secrecy which additionally requires that a long-term secret compromise does not affect the security of past session keys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moxie Marlinspike</span> American entrepreneur

Moxie Marlinspike whose real name is Matthew Rosenfeld is an American entrepreneur, cryptographer, and computer security researcher. Marlinspike is the creator of Signal, co-founder of the Signal Technology Foundation, and served as the first CEO of Signal Messenger LLC. He is also a co-author of the Signal Protocol encryption used by Signal, WhatsApp, Google Messages, Facebook Messenger, and Skype.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cryptocat</span> Open source encrypted chat application

Cryptocat is a discontinued open-source desktop application intended to allow encrypted online chatting available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. It uses end-to-end encryption to secure all communications to other Cryptocat users. Users are given the option of independently verifying their buddies' device lists and are notified when a buddy's device list is modified and all updates are verified through the built-in update downloader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messenger (software)</span> American instant messaging app

Messenger, also known as Facebook Messenger, is an American proprietary instant messaging service developed by Meta Platforms. Originally developed as Facebook Chat in 2008, the client application of Messenger is currently available on iOS and Android mobile platforms, Windows and macOS desktop platforms, through the Messenger.com web application, and on the standalone Facebook Portal hardware.

Silent Circle is an encrypted communications firm based in Washington DC. Silent Circle provides multi-platform secure communication services for mobile devices and desktops. Launched October 16, 2012, the company operates under a subscription business model. The encryption part of the software used is free software/open source and peer-reviewed. For the remaining parts of Silent Phone and Silent Text, the source code is available on GitHub, but under proprietary software licenses.

Secure instant messaging is a form of instant messaging. Both terms refer to an informal means for computer users to exchange messages commonly referred to as "chats". Instant messaging can be compared to texting as opposed to making a mobile phone call. In the case of messaging, it is like the short form of emailing. Secure instant messaging is a specialized form of instant messaging that along with other differences, encrypts and decrypts the contents of the messages such that only the actual users can understand them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telegram (software)</span> Cross-platform instant messaging service

Telegram Messenger, commonly known as Telegram, is a cloud-based, cross-platform, instant messaging (IM) service. It was originally launched for iOS on 14 August 2013 and Android on 20 October 2013. It allows users to exchange messages, share media and files, and hold private and group voice or video calls as well as public livestreams. It is available for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, and web browsers. Telegram also offers end-to-end encryption in voice and video calls, and in optional private chats, which Telegram calls Secret Chats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ChatSecure</span> Messaging application

ChatSecure is a messaging application for iOS which allows OTR and OMEMO encryption for the XMPP protocol. ChatSecure is free and open source software available under the GPL-3.0-or-later license.

Surespot was a free open-source instant messaging application for Android and iOS with a focus on privacy and security. It was shut down on July 31, 2022.

TextSecure was an encrypted messaging application for Android that was developed from 2010 to 2015. It was a predecessor to Signal and the first application to use the Signal Protocol, which has since been implemented into WhatsApp and other applications. TextSecure used end-to-end encryption to secure the transmission of text messages, group messages, attachments and media messages to other TextSecure users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open Whisper Systems</span> Open source software organization

Open Whisper Systems was a software development group that was founded by Moxie Marlinspike in 2013. The group picked up the open source development of TextSecure and RedPhone, and was later responsible for starting the development of the Signal Protocol and the Signal messaging app. In 2018, Signal Messenger was incorporated as an LLC by Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton and then rolled under the independent 501c3 non-profit Signal Technology Foundation. Today, the Signal app is developed by Signal Messenger LLC, which is funded by the Signal Technology Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Threema</span> Instant messaging smartphone service

Threema is a paid cross-platform encrypted instant messaging app developed by Threema GmbH in Switzerland and launched in 2012. The service operates on a decentralized architecture and offers end-to-end encryption. Users can make voice and video calls, send photos, files, and voice notes, share locations, and make groups. Unlike many other popular secure messaging apps, Threema does not require phone numbers or email addresses for registration, only a one-time purchase that can be paid via an app store or anonymously with Bitcoin or cash.

Wire Swiss GmbH is a software company with headquarters in Zug, Switzerland. Its development center is in Berlin, Germany. The company is best known for its messaging application called Wire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Signal (messaging app)</span> Privacy-focused encrypted messaging app

Signal is an encrypted messaging service for instant messaging, voice calls, and video calls. The instant messaging function includes sending text, voice notes, images, videos, and other files. Communication may be one-to-one between users or may involve group messaging.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matrix (protocol)</span> Networking protocol for real-time communication and data synchronization

Matrix is an open standard and communication protocol for real-time communication. It aims to make real-time communication work seamlessly between different service providers, in the way that standard Simple Mail Transfer Protocol email currently does for store-and-forward email service, by allowing users with accounts at one communications service provider to communicate with users of a different service provider via online chat, voice over IP, and videotelephony. It therefore serves a similar purpose to protocols like XMPP, but is not based on any existing communication protocol.

The Signal Protocol is a non-federated cryptographic protocol that provides end-to-end encryption for voice and instant messaging conversations. The protocol was developed by Open Whisper Systems in 2013 and was introduced in the open-source TextSecure app, which later became Signal. Several closed-source applications have implemented the protocol, such as WhatsApp, which is said to encrypt the conversations of "more than a billion people worldwide" or Google who provides end-to-end encryption by default to all RCS-based conversations between users of their Google Messages app for one-to-one conversations. Facebook Messenger also say they offer the protocol for optional Secret Conversations, as does Skype for its Private Conversations.

Wire is an encrypted communication and collaboration app created by Wire Swiss. It is available for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, and web browsers such as Firefox. Wire offers a collaboration suite featuring messenger, voice calls, video calls, conference calls, file-sharing, and external collaboration – all protected by a secure end-to-end-encryption. Wire offers three solutions built on its security technology: Wire Pro – which offers Wire's collaboration feature for businesses, Wire Enterprise – includes Wire Pro capabilities with added features for large-scale or regulated organizations, and Wire Red – the on-demand crisis collaboration suite. They also offer Wire Personal, which is a secure messaging app for personal use.

xx messenger is a cross-platform decentralized encrypted instant messaging service developed by PrivaTegrity Corporation. Messages are delivered over a variety of mix network first described in 2016. Users can send one-to-one and group messages, which can include voice notes and images.

References

  1. ↑ MacMillan, Douglas (June 25, 2014). "A startup looks for business in secrecy". Wall Street Journal.
  2. 1 2 Roth, Emma (November 19, 2022). "Wickr's free encrypted messaging app is shutting down next year". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  3. ↑ Perlroth, Nicole (June 27, 2012). "An app that encrypts, shreds, hashes and salts". The New York Times.
  4. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (May 6, 2015). "Encrypted Chat App Wickr Creates New Non-Profit Arm". TechCrunch.
  5. ↑ Perlroth, Nicole (May 6, 2015). "Wickr adds a new chief executive and a nonprofit". The New York Times.
  6. ↑ Pfeifle, Sam (November 6, 2016). "New Wickr CEO looks to build on ephemeral messaging". iapp.org. The International Association of Privacy Professionals. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  7. ↑ Wallenstrom, Joel (November 6, 2016). "Wickr – Making Ephemerality & Encryption a New Norm". wickr.com. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  8. ↑ "AWS has acquired encrypted messaging service Wickr". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  9. ↑ Roth, Emma (November 19, 2022). "Wickr's free encrypted messaging app is shutting down next year". The Verge . Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  10. ↑ Cox, Joseph (January 3, 2024). "Wickr Is Dead". 404 Media . Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  11. ↑ McLaughlin, Aimee. "Wickr brand identity, by Daylight Design". designweek.co.uk. Centaur Media plc. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
  12. ↑ https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/wickr-inc/wickr/.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ↑ "Wickr Me – Private Messenger - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  14. ↑ https://apps.apple.com/app/wickr-me-private-messenger/id528962154.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ↑ "Wickr Me - Private Messenger". App Store. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  16. ↑ https://me-download.wickr.com/#/version/me.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. ↑ Thompson, Cadie (February 6, 2014). "Snapchat rival hopes to pounce on security breach". CNBC.
  18. 1 2 "Secure Messaging Scorecard. Which apps and tools actually keep your messages safe?". Electronic Frontier Foundation. January 5, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Wickr Messaging Protocol" (PDF) (Whitepaper). Wickr Inc. 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Who Has Your Back". The Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  21. ↑ Franceschi Bicchiera, Lorenzo (March 4, 2013). "Wickr: Can the Snapchat for Grown-Ups Save You From Spies?". Mashable.
  22. ↑ Kirk, Jeremy (January 15, 2014). "Encrypted messaging startup Wickr offers 100k bug bounty". PC World.
  23. ↑ Greenberg, Andy (December 6, 2016). "This App Wants to Be Your Encrypted, Self-Destructing Slack". Wired. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  24. ↑ Conger, Kate (February 15, 2017). "Encrypted chat app Wickr opens code for public review". TechCrunch.
  25. 1 2 3 Eddy, Max (February 15, 2017). "Wickr Releases Crypto Protocol on GitHub". PCMag.
  26. ↑ Wallenstrom, Joel (February 15, 2017). "Wickr's Core Crypto Goes Public". Wickr Blog.
  27. ↑ Sier, Jessica (May 29, 2015). "Apps to keep your messages secret in the data retention age". Australian Financial Review.
  28. ↑ Scharr, Jill (December 4, 2014). "Wickr launches desktop private messaging application". TechCrunch.
  29. ↑ MacDougall, Ian (December 10, 2019). "New York City Paid McKinsey Millions to Stem Jail Violence. Instead, Violence Soared". ProPublica. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  30. ↑ "Md. Gov. Larry Hogan's messages to state employees self-destruct in 24 hours". The Washington Post.
  31. ↑ Fried, Ina (March 3, 2014). "Wickr secures $9 million to fund its privacy-focused messaging service". Recode.
  32. ↑ Finkle, Jim (June 26, 2014). "Wickr raises $30 million; investors include CME Group, Wargaming". Reuters.
  33. ↑ "CIA Funding Arm Gave Encrypted App Wickr $1.6 Million - VICE". www.vice.com. October 12, 2021. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  34. ↑ Winter, Jana; Groll, Elias (September 14, 2017). "Why Is Erik Prince Backing a Secure Communications Company?". Foreign Policy. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  35. ↑ Fried, Ina (May 6, 2015). "Wickr Splits in Two, With Founder Nico Sell to Head New Nonprofit Venture". re/code.
  36. ↑ Shieber, Jonathan, TechCrunch (May 23, 2016). "Wickr Foundation invests in Whistler, an app dedicated to helping activists and citizen reporters" . Retrieved September 23, 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  37. ↑ Franklin-Wallis, WIRED UK, Oliver (May 27, 2016). "Wickr Foundation announces Whistler, an encrypted app for whistleblowers" . Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  38. ↑ Vinton, Kate (March 10, 2015). "The Messaging App That Fights Dictators". Forbes.
  39. ↑ Reader, Ruth (May 6, 2015). "Ephemeral messaging app Wickr targets activists and enterprises as the company splits in two". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
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