Wired: The CIA Can't Crack Signal and WhatsApp Encryption No Matter What WikiLeaks Says

[ehrnst]

Don’t Let WikiLeaks Scare You Off of Signal and Other Encrypted Chat Apps

A close reading of the descriptions of mobile hacking outlined in the documents released by WikiLeaks shows that the CIA has not yet cracked those invaluable encryption tools. That has done little to prevent confusion on the matter, something WikiLeaks itself contributed to with a carelessly worded tweet:

Link to tweet

( WikiLeaks #Vault7 confirms CIA can effectively bypass Signal + Telegram + WhatsApp + Confide encryptionhttps://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1)

The end-to-end encryption protocols underpinning these private messaging apps protect all communications as they pass between devices. No one, not even the companies providing the service, can read or see that data while it is in transit. Nothing in the CIA leak disputes that. The underlying software remains every bit as trustworthy now as it was before WikiLeaks released the documents.

Of course, the CIA can compromise the devices sending or receiving those messages. By taking control of a so-called end point, spies can access everything on a smartphone, be it texts, videos, the camera, or the microphone. “It isn’t about ‘defeating encryption,’ despite the hype,” says Nicholas Weaver, a computer security researcher at the International Computer Science Institute. “If you compromise a target’s phone, you don’t care about encryption anymore.”

https://www.wired.com/2017/03/wikileaks-cia-hack-signal-encrypted-chat-apps/

[Renew Deal]

1. I thought that point was pretty clear.

Maybe not

[Demsrule86]

3. Wiki is dead to me...Assange is a liar and a Russian puppet...how sweet...when

Trump needs a distraction...his buddy Assange helps him out or is it Putin? I won't even bother to look at anything Wiki or read any story associated with Wiki.

[unc70]

2. If they hack your phone, doesn't matter what app you use

Once your phone is thoroughly hacked, then your apps can be hacked, too. It doesn't matter whether the app uses encryption or not. You are still exposed.