Signal is the European Union’s encrypted messaging app of choice – Cult of Mac

The European Commission doesnt want its staff using WhatsApp or iMessage for internal communications. Instead, they must start using end-to-end-encrypted messaging app Signal as part of a push toward greater security.

Signal has been selected as the recommended application for public instant messaging, noted an instruction that reportedly appeared on internal EC messaging boards in early February.

Signal was developed in 2013 with a focus on privacy. On Signal, conversations are fully encrypted by default, along with metadata with information such as who you are talking to. Messages can be made to self-destruct and can also be sent anonymously. Evidence of how little data it holds was seen in 2016. That year, Signal was subpoenaed and only had access to data about when an account was created and the last date a user accessed its servers.

Its like Facebooks WhatsApp and Apples iMessage but its based on an encryption protocol thats very innovative, Bart Preneel, cryptography expert at the University of Leuven, told Politico, which first reported the story. Because its open-source, you can check whats happening under the hood, he added.

The use of Signal by EU staff is recommended primarily for communication sent by staff to people outside the institution.

Apple and WhatsApp are no slouches when it comes to privacy, either. Apple in particular has been particularly outspoken aboutprivacy as a fundamental human right. Over the years, Apple has taken a hard stance against lawmakers demands to add backdoors to encryption.

Interestingly, while the EU is seemingly keen to keen correspondence private, its not always been unanimously on the side of privacy. A December 2019 article for Politico notes that:

Some European Union governments are mulling a revisit of so-called data retention rules, requirements that telecom providers keep hold of peoples online messages for a set period of time in case law enforcement agencies need to access them.

The fact that the EU is promoting Signal one the one hand, while some lawmakers are battling against strong encryption on the other is interesting.In the US, Apple has faced multiple legal challenges when it comes to its pro-privacy stance on encryption. That battle is still ongoing and has still not yet been settled.

Signal is available to download via the App Store.

Source: Politico

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Signal is the European Union's encrypted messaging app of choice - Cult of Mac