Signal encryption relies on a password (last I used it, which was a long time ago). Typing long random passwords in a phone is nothing if not impractical.
It wouldn't shock me to find out they just brute forced the password.
FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
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Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#52It says that they have "731 pages of encrypted data" but nowhere does it say that they managed to decrypt the data, and read the plain text.
It states that they did not disclose what was in the "encrypted data" so... there's no indication or assurance that they've managed to access the plain text.
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#53It says that they have "731 pages of encrypted data" but nowhere does it say that they managed to decrypt the data, and read the plain text. It states that they did not disclose what was in the "encrypted data" so... there's no indication or assurance that they've managed to access the plain text.
Why on earth would those fools print it all out?
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Signal also has an option to truncate your message history automatically, i.e. it only keeps the n newest messages and deletes older ones.
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 i…
You can also set Signal to ask for a password after a certain time.
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#56Damn, you'd think that someone at that level would pay for better OPSEC support. But then, I guess that I'm not surprised. Blackberry does have a reputation, not at all deserved at this point. I'm pretty sure that the President's phone is just as poorly secured. Probably less, from what I've read.
Just a question. Who would they pay? I know a few people I might pay for that but only incidentally & I’ve worked in tech. for 20 years.
Where would an average though maybe high priced attorney go to get advice other than “use signal & WhatsApp” if they knew they needed protection from a federal investigation?
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Signal won't prune the messages until you open the app (or maybe the conversation) again. There've been a few releases where the changelog notes that the app didn't expire ephemeral messages properly.
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#58It says that they have "731 pages of encrypted data" but nowhere does it say that they managed to decrypt the data, and read the plain text. It states that they did not disclose what was in the "encrypted data" so... there's no indication or assurance that they've managed to access the plain text.
My reading of that was that they had 731 pages of texts, which were supposed to have been encrypted by WhatsApp or Signal, that were stored in plain text.
That's what this article appears to suggest:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-15/prosecuto...
From paragraph 2 in the article:
> Investigators have restored 16 pages of documents found in Cohen’s shredder and recovered 731 pages of messages sent on encrypted platforms, including WhatsApp and Signal.
Re: FBI Recovers WhatsApp, Signal Data Stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
#59i cannt read i am dumb, but?
did they have his phone password or is this saying they hacked the chat softwares?