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Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

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Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#91

Post by sails »

ViViDboarder wrote: post #81
pentae wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my encrypted chats saved across multiple devices

You get that on Signal. I’ve got it on my phone, laptop, and tablet and I see the chats on all of them. Do you mean message history when setting up a new device? They are working on that, but it’s not so easy to do without storing all your chats with a server side encryption key. Apparently something coming soon though.

It was just release on iOS, Android has had it for a while

https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007062012-Ne...

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#92

Post by AnonC »

The biggest drawback with Signal for protesters is that it exposes the user's phone number to everyone else in groups (just like WhatsApp does). There is no way to even hide the fact that you have an account on Signal. I can add phone numbers by enumeration into my contacts and Signal will show who among my contacts is on it. If the authorities don't use tactics like they did in Hong Kong, the protesters may be safe from being spied on (or worse).

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#93

Post by colordrops »

bawolff wrote: post #53
angott wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first step would probably involve getting a PhD in cryptography...

There's a lot more than just crypto. Its much more common for systems to fail in the supporting code then it is for the crypto to be wrong. So first step is probably learn reverse engineering and verify the crypto is being used correctly. Then after that get a phd in cryptography.

The source code is available.

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#94

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

nmfisher wrote: post #82
AtHeartEngineer wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's my default and over a few years I've pretty much converted everyone in my life except my mom

Sadly, my (65 year old) mum is the only one I managed to convince to use to Signal. All my (mid-30s) friends won't budge from WhatsApp.

Having 'Message me on Signal' as status message on WhatsApp and not replying to non-urgent messages from Whatsapp helped to covert some of my contacts.

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#95

Post by AnonC »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #2

I hope one day apps like Signal will be the default for everyone , not just protesters in a time of crisis.

I don't think that's a great idea until Signal stops exposing the phone number of the user to everyone else (for all the bashing that Telegram gets on cryptography, it has mechanisms to hide one's phone number and even the fact that one has a Telegram account from others).

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#96

Post by bawolff »

colordrops wrote: post #93
bawolff wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot more than just crypto. Its much more common for systems to fail in the supporting code then it is for the crypto to be wrong. So first step is probably learn reverse engineering and verify the crypto is being used correctly. Then after that get a phd in cryptography.

The source code is available.

Fair enough. The point still stands you should do normal source code auditing before worrying about the crypto aspects.

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#97

Post by AnonC »

gonehome wrote: post #71
themodelplumber wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to ask about this. Signal was comparatively annoying. Can I keep using Telegram or am I postponing the inevitable? Curious.

Is Telegram at all trustworthy? I feel like I’ve repeatedly seen on HN that they’re not a good choice for secure messaging (though I don’t remember the specifics around it). Signal and Matrix are the two options I’ve settled on. [Edit]: Looks like the main issues with Telegram are that it doesn't use end to end encryption by default and that they rolled their own encryption protocol that's likely not secure. They als…

Telegram's homegrown crypto has been dismissed by many people (including experts). But it offers privacy features that some other messengers do not. Is Signal trustworthy considering that it exposes your phone number to everyone else in groups? With Telegram it's possible to communicate with anyone without revealing your phone number or profile picture or anything else.

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#98

Post by AnonC »

pentae wrote: post #72
rubatuga wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You get voice, video, chat, stickers, files. What more do you want?

my encrypted chats saved across multiple devices

Wire has E2E synced across devices and platforms, though its client and features lag behind Telegram (it's still better than Signal on features).

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#99

Post by hjek »

AnonC wrote: post #92

The biggest drawback with Signal for protesters is that it exposes the user's phone number to everyone else in groups (just like WhatsApp does). There is no way to even hide the fact that you have an account on Signal. I can add phone numbers by enumeration into my contacts and Signal will show who among my contacts is on it. If the authorities don't use tactics like they did in Hong Kong, the protesters may be safe…

Signal is not only used by protesters[0][1] so discovering that a phone number is connected to a Signal account by no means implies that the phone is used by a protester.

[0]: https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2020/01/23/deploye...

[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/17/tories-swit...

Re: Signal app downloads spike as US protesters seek message encryption

#100

Post by AnonC »

sails wrote: post #91
ViViDboarder wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You get that on Signal. I’ve got it on my phone, laptop, and tablet and I see the chats on all of them. Do you mean message history when setting up a new device? They are working on that, but it’s not so easy to do without storing all your chats with a server side encryption key. Apparently something coming soon though.

It was just release on iOS, Android has had it for a while https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007062012-Ne...

On iOS, Signal has implemented a data transfer from one device to another directly. It's of no use if one loses one's device or just hands over the old device to someone else before completing the setup of the new one (people are accustomed to setup a new device from backups in the cloud, which Signal won't support).
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