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Ask HN: Is Signal still a good app to use for encrypted messaging?
How secure is it?
- rogerkirkness 6y agoIf you have to ask, you'll just have to trust it.
- shervinafshar 6y agoDepends on what you need. EFF previously used to have a scorecard[1] for all the messaging applications, but they reconsidered the model of their recommendation and put together a good set of articles on the topic which ask questions to consider and provide privacy and tech context. Here's one: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/03/thinking-about-what-you-need-secure-messenger https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/03/thinking-about-what-yo... The rest are linked from here[2]. [1]: https://www.eff.org/pages/secure-messaging-scorecard https://www.eff.org/pages/secure-messaging-scorecard [2]: https://www.eff.org/de/deeplinks/2018/03/secure-messaging-more-secure-mess https://www.eff.org/de/deeplinks/2018/03/secure-messaging-mo...
- harry8 6y ago[1] Out of date for archival purposes only.
- shervinafshar 6y agoQuoting my own message: > EFF previously used to have a scorecard[1] for all the messaging applications, but they reconsidered the model of their recommendation
- h2odragon 6y agoProbably at least as secure and very likely moreso than pretty much any other option. cite as "random redneck off the internet" and due yer own dilligencing, of course. I must say its preferable for plain old SMS messaging, if nothing else, for the options it offers and the stable sane behavior.
- cpach 6y agoYes. Signal is the gold standard of messaging apps.
- giantg2 6y agoBest way to avoid interference or maintain security is to adopt old school tactics. Look at the war games the military played to prepare for Iraq and how the low tech red team comms worked.
- Spooky23 6y agoExactly. If you think you need Signal, you probably really need to STFU.
- Good_Karma 6y agoForgive my ignorance, but could you develop ? 1 ) That user seems to be asking for the enlightened opinion of HN readers on an important topic. Not everyone is a cryptographist. 2 ) > STFU as in Shut The F*ck Up ? Honest question, since I didn't think that's what you meant, I looked it up. It remains the most likely meaning. Others include : " 15.) Samurai Training Finished Unsuccessfully " [0] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=stfu https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=stfu
- giantg2 6y agoOr you can communicate outside of electronic channels. My point is if you are concerned that the government is monitoring your communications (presumably related to the protests), then electronic methods are not reliable. Even if the encryption is solid, they could start jamming the frequencies used.
- Spooky23 6y agoGood point. But this stuff is always cat and mouse. The mafia bigshots figured out that they couldn't talk on the phone in the 60s and 70s once the FBI started aggressively pursuing wiretaps. So they shifted. In the 2000s, drug dealers figured out that Nextel direct connect weren't tracable... so Nextel kiosks sprung up in the hood and you'd see them all over. After that, prepaid burners were the next thing, followed by BlackBerry, etc. If your organizing protests in such a way that are going to attract surveillance, "Use X" is dumb advice. It depends on the situation and what consequences you can sustain. An activist may want to be arrested. A Federal employee may sacrifice their career just for being present. Context matters, but the smart path is to leave your phone at home.
- upofadown 6y agoPretty much anything will fail if the end device is compromised. It's probably good up to that point. Otherwise you will have to look into some sort of air gapping to a physically secure device dedicated to messaging (e.g. Yubikey). As always, it depends on the threat model...
- wideawake 6y agoDepends on threat model. For most people. Yes.
- besus 6y agoWickr is another alternative with really tight security throughout it's app to stack.
- viraptor 6y agoIt all depends on the context / your threat model. Do you want to prevent a service provider from reading your messages? It's good. Do you want to be the next Snowden? Probably not. Do you trust people you talk to? Etc.
- whymarrh 6y agoMaybe this is a bit nitpicky, but Snowden himself does offer Signal to people [1] and is listed on the Signal homepage as "using Signal every day" [2]. [1]:https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/986277159252750336?s=20 [2]:https://signal.org
- vipa123 6y agoNot nitpicky. It was quite relevant to the thread.
- aaron695 6y agoRather than conspiracies theories of, depends if you are a spy or not. Anyone want to explain where Signal fails for top level spying and Nation States are coming after you? And what the safer alternative is?
- adamhearn 6y agoThe biggest issue with signal is the forced reveal of your phone number. There are several good alternatives. Wickr and session come to mind.
- noman-land 6y agoIf your adversary is a nation state, hiding your phone number is not an option. They already know it and might compromise a device. Perhaps another service is better or the use of a burner phone is preferred.
- joemazerino 6y agoHow can a nation-state adversary compromise a device only knowing the phone number?
- ncmncm 6y ago1. Track locations of phones in contact. 2. Rubber hose. 3. Obtain copies of your messages still retained in your contacts' phones.
- egberts1 6y agoEasily fixed by hosting your own Signal server and recompiling its phone apps, no?
- ta17711771 6y ago"Easily"
- 6y ago
- rmrfstar 6y agoIts use of SGX for secure value recovery is highly problematic [1]. @matthew_d_green twitter feed has a regular stream of high-quality Signal commentary. [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/06/new-exploits-plunder-crypto-keys-and-more-from-intels-ultrasecure-sgx/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/06/new-e... [2] https://twitter.com/signalapp/status/1262844332278603777 https://twitter.com/signalapp/status/1262844332278603777
- zh 6y agoWhat about https://status.im/ https://status.im/ instead - OSS, e2e encrypted by default.
- parliament32 6y agoSignal is still considered the gold standard for secure messaging on mobile.
- probinso 6y agoyou have to understand and read their security model in order to assess whether it is an appropriate technology for your context. every time you use a security advertised platform read the threat/security model.