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WhatsApp banned on House staffers' devices

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Re: WhatsApp banned on House staffers' devices

#11

Post by alephnerd »

This is due to the addition of Meta AI in WhatsApp [0].

Unsurprisingly, data egress to third parties is a major security vector - especially for mission critical jobs like working in the House. MS apps incorporating Copilot have faced similar blocks as well.

This requirement for data stewardship is called out in HITPOL8 as well [1][2] (the AI tool standards set by the House CAO).

[0] - https://faq.whatsapp.com/203220822537614/?cms_platform=iphon...

[1] - https://cha.house.gov/_cache/files/4/2/42dca19e-194b-481e-b1...

[2] - https://cha.house.gov/_cache/files/0/8/08476380-95c3-4989-ad...

Re: WhatsApp banned on House staffers' devices

#13

Post by FuriouslyAdrift »

sandworm101 wrote: post #4
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Well, if you just cannot be botherer to drive to the scif, and if you are best buds with the man in charge, do whatever least impacts your workout schedule.

What, you don't bring your SCIF wherever you go?

https://www.theemcshop.com/benchtop-faraday-tents/select-fab...

Re: WhatsApp banned on House staffers' devices

#14

Post by seethishat »

sandworm101 wrote: post #2

Good. Another point to be made when my friends push me to install bloated spyware just to plan a pizza party. Use Signal.

Or just call, email or txt.

Signal is only as secure as the device it runs on. Cell Phones are not secure. They are blackboxes and probably track you and may have built-in backdoors (only to be used to catch 'real' criminals), etc.

The idea that you can turn a device like that into some form of secure communication platform by installing an app is not realistic.

Re: WhatsApp banned on House staffers' devices

#16

Post by gruez »

v5v3 wrote: post #12

Government: Zuck put a backdoor in WhatsApp or we will put you in a blacksite UFC ring and beat you up. Also Government: WhatsApp has a backdoor. Don't use it.

>Government: Zuck put a backdoor in WhatsApp or we will put you in a blacksite UFC ring and beat you up.

Source?

>Also Government: WhatsApp has a backdoor. Don't use it.

If "zuck" is really in the pocket of the US government, why should they worry about their own backdoors?

Re: WhatsApp banned on House staffers' devices

#17

Post by snickerbockers »

game_the0ry wrote: post #6
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

That wasn't signal's fault. They accidentally invited a journalist to the chat.

I agree in principle but this was (probably) a result of somebody fat-fingering the wrong contact and I do think there's some culpability on either the app or the phone for making that possible to do by mistake. Touch screens are an inherently clumsy interface, and Android in general has a lot of problems with UI elements suddenly moving around without warning as you're clicking on things. And then there's auto correct, UI hanging for several seconds at a time only to suddenly wake up and replay everything that you tried to do while it was non responsive, phantom button presses caused by the device getting too warm, etc.

None of this is meant to excuse these officials for not authenticating everybody in that group or for using highly informal text messages to plan an airstrike of all things.

Ultimately there's no excuse for leaking information when you're at that level of government; I just feel like the app industry needs to take responsibility and fix several obvious, well-known and common UI issues.

Re: WhatsApp banned on House staffers' devices

#18

Post by upofadown »

game_the0ry wrote: post #6
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

That wasn't signal's fault. They accidentally invited a journalist to the chat.

Yeah, but Signal really didn't help them at all with that. As with most of these phone oriented encrypted messengers, Signal is pretty sloppy with identity management. It would be hard to find a better example of this than SignalGate 1.0.

* https://articles.59.ca/doku.php?id=em:sg End to End Encrypted Messaging in the News: An Editorial Usability Case Study (my article)

Re: WhatsApp banned on House staffers' devices

#19

Post by baxtr »

>Andy Stone, a spokesperson for WhatsApp parent company Meta, said in a statement to Axios, "We disagree with the House Chief Administrative Officer's characterization in the strongest possible terms."

(..)

"Messages on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted by default, meaning only the recipients and not even WhatsApp can see them. This is a higher level of security than most of the apps on the CAO's approved list that do not offer that protection."

Re: WhatsApp banned on House staffers' devices

#20

Post by Tijdreiziger »

seethishat wrote: post #14
sandworm101 wrote: post #2

Good. Another point to be made when my friends push me to install bloated spyware just to plan a pizza party. Use Signal.

Or just call, email or txt. Signal is only as secure as the device it runs on. Cell Phones are not secure. They are blackboxes and probably track you and may have built-in backdoors (only to be used to catch 'real' criminals), etc. The idea that you can turn a device like that into some form of secure communication platform by installing an app is not realistic.

Yeah, but the location of your next pizza party probably isn’t a state secret either.
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