Manfort [not Cohen, as I originally wrote, but Manafort] had his message stored on iCloud. That turned out to be part of how the FBI was able to recover them so easily.
https://gizmodo.com/paul-manafort-learns-that-encrypting-mes...
FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
11–20 of 138 posts
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#12> The letter to Judge Kimba Wood stated that "the Government was advised that the FBI’s original electronic extraction of data from telephones did not capture content related to encrypted messaging applications, such as WhatsApp and Signal... The FBI has now obtained this material." I don't get this. How could you possibly decrypt encrypted messages without WhatsApp or Signal's assistance? Isn't the whole point of en…
>Isn't the whole point of encryption that no-one can decrypt it unless they have the necessary keys?
But if the person who knows the relevant keys willingly hands over appropriate passwords/etc. for a more lenient sentence then encryption is moot.
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#13Trump is in trouble now. EDIT: It is suspected that Michael Cohen, being a long time Trump friend and personal lawyer, is familiar with Trump's money laundering. If Michael Cohen believes he's at risk of being sent to jail for many years, he might collaborate with the FBI.
A lot of trouble. A Ukrainian national said in an interview that he testified in front of a grand jury convened by the Mueller investigation last Friday. He said that the prosecutor's questions focused on Cohen so he is about to be squeezed from both sides and his family is now selling several multimillion dollar apartments (including his in-laws), supposedly to cover legal bills. His current legal team will cease all work for Cohen after today with sources saying that it is due to a failed attempt at negotiating down some already owed bills.
Federal grand juries convene on Fridays so we will know by Monday whether more indictments will be handed down.
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#14> The letter to Judge Kimba Wood stated that "the Government was advised that the FBI’s original electronic extraction of data from telephones did not capture content related to encrypted messaging applications, such as WhatsApp and Signal... The FBI has now obtained this material." I don't get this. How could you possibly decrypt encrypted messages without WhatsApp or Signal's assistance? Isn't the whole point of en…
I haven't used Whatsapp or Signal, but you don't login every time you use the chat app, right? The phone could have just been unlocked by the owner or the PIN or pattern guessed, assuming the keys are stored on the device.
They are very different platforms, Signal offers on-device encryption if you choose to enable it, prompting for a password when starting Signal after rebooting the phone. It will also keep a quick lock option in the menu on Android phones so you can easily prevent unauthorized access.
I believe Whatsapp has made a few compromises in this regard, but obviously Michael Cohen didn't bother to use disappearing messages in Signal or encrypt his Signal DB, despite how easy it is to do.
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#15Trump is in trouble now. EDIT: It is suspected that Michael Cohen, being a long time Trump friend and personal lawyer, is familiar with Trump's money laundering. If Michael Cohen believes he's at risk of being sent to jail for many years, he might collaborate with the FBI.
A lot of trouble. A Ukrainian national said in an interview that he testified in front of a grand jury convened by the Mueller investigation last Friday. He said that the prosecutor's questions focused on Cohen so he is about to be squeezed from both sides and his family is now selling several multimillion dollar apartments (including his in-laws), supposedly to cover legal bills. His current legal team will cease al…
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Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#16The article doesn't specify whether or not the encryption was "broken", or whether Cohen is simply cooperating. My hunch tells me it's the latter.
Yea this is key. It's possible to have Signal on your device but not implement any device locking passcode or passcode for unlocking Signal... That would make it trivial to recover data if you have the device.
An alternative method of protecting oneself is to set an expiry timer, which makes messages in a conversation ephemeral. 1 week seems to be a fine balance between being able to look back at old messages, while also not having those you communicate with be allowed to store data on your device for too long.
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#17Trump is in trouble now. EDIT: It is suspected that Michael Cohen, being a long time Trump friend and personal lawyer, is familiar with Trump's money laundering. If Michael Cohen believes he's at risk of being sent to jail for many years, he might collaborate with the FBI.
A lot of trouble. A Ukrainian national said in an interview that he testified in front of a grand jury convened by the Mueller investigation last Friday. He said that the prosecutor's questions focused on Cohen so he is about to be squeezed from both sides and his family is now selling several multimillion dollar apartments (including his in-laws), supposedly to cover legal bills. His current legal team will cease al…
Trump Campaign to Discredit Michael Cohen is Underway
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#18Trump is in trouble now. EDIT: It is suspected that Michael Cohen, being a long time Trump friend and personal lawyer, is familiar with Trump's money laundering. If Michael Cohen believes he's at risk of being sent to jail for many years, he might collaborate with the FBI.
Could you please increase the amount of information in your comments? Edit: thanks.
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Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#19> The letter to Judge Kimba Wood stated that "the Government was advised that the FBI’s original electronic extraction of data from telephones did not capture content related to encrypted messaging applications, such as WhatsApp and Signal... The FBI has now obtained this material." I don't get this. How could you possibly decrypt encrypted messages without WhatsApp or Signal's assistance? Isn't the whole point of en…
Encryption in transit doesn't imply encryption at rest. For instance, WhatsApp on Android will happily back up to Google Drive, if you allow it, and it does so in cleartext.
Nothing on Google Drive is stored "in clear text".
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#20Trump is in trouble now. EDIT: It is suspected that Michael Cohen, being a long time Trump friend and personal lawyer, is familiar with Trump's money laundering. If Michael Cohen believes he's at risk of being sent to jail for many years, he might collaborate with the FBI.
A lot of trouble. A Ukrainian national said in an interview that he testified in front of a grand jury convened by the Mueller investigation last Friday. He said that the prosecutor's questions focused on Cohen so he is about to be squeezed from both sides and his family is now selling several multimillion dollar apartments (including his in-laws), supposedly to cover legal bills. His current legal team will cease al…
I was under the impression that grand jury questioning was not to be disclosed? Am I wrong about this?