- Chelsea Manning is the face of a new VPN, Nym, which aims to be the most private in the world.
- She and Nym CEO Harry Halpin said they avoid Google and Microsoft products over security concerns.
- They say they prefer Apple's privacy infrastructure.
Chelsea Manning — the former Army intelligence analyst sentenced to 35 years in prison over her 2010 leak of classified government information — says one major tech company reigns supreme when it comes to data privacy: Apple.
Manning, whose prison sentence was commuted by President Obama, is now a privacy and security consultant for Nym, a new VPN that aims to improve data security.
In her consulting role, she assesses clients' data privacy practices and makes recommendations to improve their security.
And in her experience, Manning said Apple's infrastructure across its products "is fairly robust and secure" compared to its competitors.
"I'm not saying that you have to go out and buy an iPhone or Apple products — I have no investment in Apple," Manning told BI. "But I have noticed a remarkable surge in proficiency and focus on providing privacy-based technology in their full stack."
She said she doesn't generally recommend Microsoft or Google products and "wouldn't use Incognito mode or a Chromium browser" if she wanted to browse privately — a sentiment echoed by Nym's CEO, Harry Halpin. Halpin is a cryptographer and former senior research scientist at MIT, who said he also avoids Microsoft and Google products because of his concerns about keeping his data secure.
Microsoft, Google, and Apple representatives did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider about this story. Each company has previously said it takes privacy and security seriously.
In its introduction to Windows security, last updated in July, Microsoft said that its Windows 11 operating system was developed with a "Zero Trust security model based on the premise that no person or device anywhere can have access until safety and integrity is proven."
In its July 2024 security overview, Google said, "Security drives our organizational structure, culture, training priorities, and hiring processes" and is "prioritized in the way we handle customer data, our account controls, our compliance audits, and our certifications."
Apple's platform security overview, updated in May, stated that security is designed "into the core of its platforms." The company also stated in the overview that it believes "privacy is a fundamental human right" that influences the development of its products and services.
Opt-In versus Opt-Out privacy policies
Two other cybersecurity experts told Business Insider that each of the big names has poured billions of dollars into their data privacy protections — and each tries to persuade users theirs are the best.
They said each company's approach to security means different things for consumers.
"Google and Microsoft and so many other companies, you have to opt out of having data collected," Chris Hauk, a consumer privacy advocate at the data security advocacy group Pixel Privacy, told BI. "Whereas, Apple, with a lot of it, you have to opt in."
Dinesh Besiahgari, a front-end engineer at Amazon Web Services, told BI that Google, Apple, and Microsoft each employ a version of a "sandbox" security feature that restricts apps from accessing each other's data to prevent breaches from spreading through a device.
"Ideally, there should be something similar in all major companies," Besiahgari said, referring to the sandbox-style infrastructure. However, he added, the security from any operating system is only as good as its latest update, saying: "Every patch that you have will keep you more secure."
No one knows when their data will be at risk
As for what you can do in your everyday life to make your cyber life more secure, Manning said to prioritize simple steps you'll consistently use, like turning on a VPN or using a privacy browser. Not everyone will choose to revert to using a pen and paper like she has, Manning acknowledges.
Whatever steps you decide to take to protect your data privacy, make them a habit because, as Manning said, "it's hard to determine when you're at risk; nobody knows."
"One of the things that I've encountered from my work as a security consultant is that some of my clients tend to be normal people who did something and ended up having their life thrown completely upside down, unexpectedly and randomly," Manning said.
But, she added, it's important not to fall into the "doomerism" mindset of believing it's "pointless" to fight back and protect your privacy. Halpin agreed, saying it will take tremendous effort to change how people think about data privacy on the internet and how companies build their products to ensure user security — but it'll be worth the effort.
"Maybe no one will want Nym, but it's still worth building it to show there's another way," Halpin said of the new VPN. "And if enough people want it, then we can open up larger spaces for new kinds of internet infrastructure, which can help solve some of these larger, civilizational issues that we're facing."