“The loudest team wins attention. The quietest team survives the breach.”
– DeadSwitch
They said “just use Teams.”
They said “Slack is fine.”
But behind every cheerful emoji and corporate integration… the watchers log.
Transcripts archived. Metadata mapped.
Sometimes not by you.
And when the breach hits, it isn’t the software that takes the fall – it’s you.
Small teams need a new way to speak. A quieter channel. A room where the doors lock both ways.
DeadSwitch whispers through those channels.
🔒 What Matters Most?
- End-to-End Encryption
- Self-Hosting Option (if needed)
- Minimal Metadata Exposure
- Auditable Source Code
- Voice/Video Support (not just text)
- Accessible to non-tech users
🧩 🖥️ Self-Hosted Collaboration Tools
Own the system. Control the flow. Patch the leaks.
🔸 Element + Matrix Protocol
- Group chat, file sharing, bridges to Slack/Discord/Telegram.
- Voice and video calls via Jitsi or Element Call.
- Fully encrypted, federated, open source.
- Mobile + Desktop apps.
- Can be hosted on your own server.
🧠 Powerful for distributed teams and cyber-aware ops.
🔸 Nextcloud Talk
- Part of the Nextcloud ecosystem (file sync, calendar, mail).
- Group chat, video call, screen sharing.
- Runs on your own infra.
- E2EE (end-to-end encryption) available.
- Web and mobile clients.
🧠 Best if you already use Nextcloud for documents.
🔸 Rocket.Chat
- Self-hostable, with federation in progress.
- Group chat, DMs, video calls (via Jitsi, BigBlueButton, etc).
- Great for custom integrations.
- Open source with paid tiers for scaling support.
🧠 Feels like Slack, but it’s yours.
☁️ ☁️ Hosted Privacy-Focused Platforms
When you don’t want to host: but still want to sleep at night.
🔹 Element One (Hosted)
- Based on Matrix. Managed hosting with encryption.
- Paid plans. Reliable and secure.
- Bridges to common platforms.
🔐 Same power as self-hosted Matrix, without the sysadmin load.
🔹 CryptPad Teams (collab-focused)
- Privacy-first suite (docs, kanban, chat, polls).
- Encrypted by default.
- Hosted in Europe. Free and paid.
🧠 For secure brainstorming, ideation, planning.
🔹 Tutanota Teams / Proton Drive (early stages)
- Team collaboration features evolving in the Proton and Tutanota ecosystems.
- Excellent for secure email + file sharing, less mature on group video/calls (yet).
- Still worth watching.
📡 Whisper Your Team into the Noise
It’s not about going dark – it’s about going quiet.
It’s about escaping the vendor lock-in trap.
Using tools that don’t need to sell your data to survive.
🕷️ If the dashboards feel too loud…
If your team’s voice echoes in corporate clouds…
Seek DeadSwitch in the Matrix:@deadswitch:matrix.org
Whisper. Wait.
Help might arrive through secure signal and hushed ports.
Tom's IT Cafe 