The security app Signal has made headlines after the White House confirmed it was used for a secret group chat between senior US officials. The editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently added to the group where plans for a strike against the Houthi group in Yemen were discussed. This has caused a significant backlash, with Democrat Senate leader Chuck Schumer calling it “one of the most stunning” military intelligence leaks in history and calling for an investigation.
Signal has estimated 40-70 million monthly users, making it tiny compared to the biggest messaging services, WhatsApp and Messenger, which count their customers in the billions. However, it leads the way in security at the core of which is end-to-end encryption (E2EE). This means only the sender and receiver can read messages, even Signal itself cannot access them.
A number of other platforms also have E2EE, including WhatsApp, but Signal’s security features go beyond this. For example, the code that makes the app work is open source, meaning anybody can check it to make sure there are no vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit. The app also collects far less information from its users and does not store records of usernames, profile pictures, or the groups people are part of.
There is also no need to dilute these features to make more money: Signal is owned by the Signal Foundation, a US-based non-profit, which relies on donations rather than ad revenue.
Signal is the gold standard in private comms, said its boss Meredith Whittaker. But even that level of security is considered insufficient for very high-level conversations about extremely sensitive national security matters.
A number of experts agree, including cybersecurity expert Caro Robson, who has worked with the US administration. She said it was “very, very unusual” for high-ranking security officials to communicate on a messaging platform like Signal.
Usually, you would use a very secure government system that is operated and owned by the government, using very high levels of encryption. This would typically mean devices kept in “very secure government-controlled locations”. The US government has historically used a sensitive compartmented information facility (Scif) to discuss national security.
More recent story: Sometimes, the US government does use technology like Signal. For instance, former President Barack Obama and his team used a similar platform to discuss national security issues.
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