Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

politico.eu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 289 posts

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#141

Post by nicky0 »

LatteLazy wrote: post #47
jariel wrote: post #28

The EU budget is 148 Billion Euros. Surely, if they have a requirement for a secure communication app, they have the wherewithal to build one for their needs, that EU citizens and others could then use if they so chose? Essential knowledge is definitely public. This is not about 'Signal' it's about why governments can't/won't deliver on so many issues they themselves deem to be very materially important to them, part…

The EU has 27 (?) member states (plus others). All those governments have intelligence agencies. All of those want to know what MEPs are thinking etc. All of them have veto powers...

Nobody cares what MEPs are thinking.

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#142

Post by throwinawaysoon »

throwawaylolx wrote: post #104
pergadad wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty selfish view. On the other hand such a serious backer means political clout and attention in case there are attempts to compromise it. E.g. Whispers Systems could quickly relocate to Estonia or Germany if US law becomes untenable.

Not so much selfish as realistic: now intelligence agencies like NSA can justify spending much more resources to exploit potential vulnerabilities in Signal, so—with Wikileaks in mind—it practically makes Signal less safe long-term.

it is realistically selfish. Also Signal app/server is open-source. Anyone could churn up a server and fly under the radar.

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#144

Post by bambataa »

I once worked in the Commission, briefly. Technical security seemed to be non-existent as far as I could tell (in an admittedly very junior role).

Once all of the interns got invited to the U.S. embassy to meet the Ambassador (some guy who literally said he got the job because he was friends with Obama). On the way out the nice embassy staff gave us goodie-bags, complete with handy pen drives...

Basically everyone was giving away free pen drives in Brussels then. I would be surprised to find that the U.S. didn't already have access to a large number of EU institution computers.

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#145

Post by cpach »

Dahoon wrote: post #123
cpach wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is true. But given how much interest there is to find vulnerabilities in the Signal app, I would be very surprised if anyone would succeed in putting up a compromised Signal app on the App store and also be able to fly under the radar.

The "anyone" in this case would be Signal. No need to fake it when Signal is under US law.

And if Signal did this you think no-one would notice?

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#146

Post by StavrosK »

sschueller wrote: post #65

This is a mistake. They should at least compile their own version and not something that comes from an US based app store under US law. At any point the US can force a change. This is as secure as purchasing a machine from Crypto AG. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_AG

Does F-Droid support signed releases, and does Signal sign their APKs? In fact, aren't all APKs signed?

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#147

Post by squiggleblaz »

pergadad wrote: post #84
Arbalest wrote: post #72

That's a tad unfortunate. Signal was just low profile enough that my wife and I could use it in China. This raises the profile of it just a bit higher than I'd like. Further, with the likes of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22202110 having a higher profile makes the organisation more vulnerable to harassment from the government.

That's a pretty selfish view. On the other hand such a serious backer means political clout and attention in case there are attempts to compromise it. E.g. Whispers Systems could quickly relocate to Estonia or Germany if US law becomes untenable.

It's not selfish to want to talk to your s.o. Sure, it's better if the CCP doesn't go around censoring reasonable communications, but given that they are, people are entitled to want whatever reasonable alternatives they can get.

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#148

Post by throwawaylolx »

benschulz wrote: post #139
sschueller wrote: post #65

This is a mistake. They should at least compile their own version and not something that comes from an US based app store under US law. At any point the US can force a change. This is as secure as purchasing a machine from Crypto AG. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_AG

Giving this advice has almost no cost and, at least arguably, it is better for staff to use Signal than other messengers. So, IMHO, this is good advice.

Not if the staff is lured by all the E2EE promises and all the lock icons to overestimate the security of the app and share more information than they would otherwise.

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#149

Post by throwaway1590 »

throway1n wrote: post #128

why is there no european company the size of whatsapp, facebook, apple and so on?

good luck competing with 0% tax state-sponsored companies without venture capital. The same reason there is no european huawei. There are some medium sized companies, but they don't have the same advantages as those in the US or China

Re: EU Commission to staff: Switch to Signal messaging app

#150

Post by throwaway47748 »

bambataa wrote: post #144

I once worked in the Commission, briefly. Technical security seemed to be non-existent as far as I could tell (in an admittedly very junior role). Once all of the interns got invited to the U.S. embassy to meet the Ambassador (some guy who literally said he got the job because he was friends with Obama). On the way out the nice embassy staff gave us goodie-bags, complete with handy pen drives... Basically everyone wa…

And I work at a European cybersecurity company and we are routinely tasked to inspect USB drives and devices EU politicians receive at conferences, so I guess we've come full circle.

I'm sure the NSA has implants in the EU systems but they're not dumb enough to just hand them out on USB drives that can be traced back to them.

Post reply on HN