When top White House defense and national security leaders discussed plans for an attack on targets in Yemen over the messaging app Signal, it raised many questions about operational security and recordkeeping and national security laws. It also puts Signal in the spotlight. Why do so many government officials, activists and journalists use Signal for secure messaging' The short answer is that it uses end-to-end encryption, meaning no one in position to eavesdrop on the communication ' including Signal itself ' can read messages they intercept. But Signal isn't the only messaging app that uses end-to-end encryption, and end-to-end encryption isn't the only consideration in choosing a secure messaging app. In addition, secure messaging apps are only part of the picture when it comes to keeping your communications private, and there is no such thing as perfect security. The most common messaging protocol, SMS, is built into every smartphone and is easy to use, but does not encrypt...
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