Signal, a popular messaging application, came to the forefront this week following reports that several senior Trump administration officials had used the war tool – unintentional, including a journalist in the messaging group.
The application, which started in 2014 and has hundreds of millions of users, is popular among journalists, activists, experts and politicians – anyone who wants to secure their encryption communications.
However, the use of the application by government officials has led to a violation of information that took place outside the safe government channels that will normally be used for classified and particularly sensitive war planning. The incident asked Signal’s security questions and why government officials used it. (Federal officials are generally not allowed to install a signal on devices issued by the government.)
Here’s what to know.
Why is the signal used?
The signal is a encrypted messaging application used for safely. It encrypts from end to end, which means what the user says is encrypted on the user’s device and is not decrypted until it reaches the recipient. This method protects the message from monitoring and reading by anyone, including internet service providers, hackers or signal itself, while in transit.
Users can also set signal messages to disappear after a certain period of time. Users who want to disappear their messages can activate the operation in the settings for each of their individual conversations.
Who holds a signal?
The signal belongs to an independent non -profit organization in the United States called The Signal Foundation. Funded by donations by users and grants.
The Foundation started in 2018 with $ 50 million donated by Brian Acton, co -founder of WhatsApp, another messaging platform, which Facebook bought in 2014. Mr. Acton left Whatsapp to start the brand’s foundation after giving up on Facebook, which is now known as Meta, his message service.
Mr. Acton joined Moxie Marlinspike, a cryptography designed by Signal’s security system to create the signal foundation. The Foundation is structured to prevent the signal from ever having an incentive to sell user data.
“There are so many great reasons to get on a signal,” wrote Marlinspike, who resigned from the Foundation’s Board of Directors in 2022, wrote in a position of X Monday. “Now, including the opportunity for the Vice President of the United States of America to accidentally add you to a group conversation about the coordination of sensitive military operations. Do not sleep at this opportunity.”
Is the signal safe?
Yes. The signal is widely regarded as the safest application of messages on the market due to encryption technology and other measures designed to secure users’ data.
Underlying encryption technology is an open source, which means that the code is published and allows technologists outside the non -profit organization to examine it and detect defects. Technology also has a license and is used by other services, such as WhatsApp.
This encryption technology was decisive when the signal was targeted by foreign hackers. Russia tried to accelerate when Ukrainians used a signal and in February, Google researchers said Russian hackers tried to occupy users’ signal accounts. While the second attack was effective, it worked by deceiving users to add ruthless devices to signal accounts, not by signal encryption.
“Electronic fishing attacks on people using popular applications and websites are an internet life event,” said Jun Harada, a signal spokesman. “As soon as we have learned that signal users are targeting and how they are targeted, we introduced additional safeguards and in -application warnings to help protect people from falling victim to electronic fishing attacks.”
In the event of a security breach, the signal is designed to maintain as few user data as possible so that minimal information is exposed. Unlike other messaging services, the company does not store user contacts or other recognition data that could indicate how a person used the service.
This does not mean that the signal is the ideal service for communicating war plans. If a user of a user is at stake, signal / her / her messages could be read-and the use of an approved government-approved communication system could prevent officials from being included inadvertently, including a journalist in a war planning discussion.
Is the signal safe for text messages?
Yes, in general, although users should be careful to exploit new contacts, as in any other social platform.
And when we add people to their group talks, they may want to get an extra time to make sure they have included the right contacts.
