Pierluigi Paganini February 25, 2020

The popular cross-platform encrypted messaging service Signal has been chosen by the European Commission for its communications.

The European Commission has decided to adopt for its staff the popular cross-platform encrypted messaging service Signal for its communications.

The news was first reported earlier this month by the Politico website, a message issued on the commission’s internal messaging boards asked employees of the European Commission to use Signal.

“The European Commission has told its staff to start using Signal, an end-to-end-encrypted messaging app, in a push to increase the security of its communications.” reported the Politico.

“The instruction appeared on internal messaging boards in early February, notifying employees that “Signal has been selected as the recommended application for public instant messaging.””

Of course, Signal have to be used only to send non-classified, but sensitive information, because classified documents must be transmitted through more secure channels. Signal could represent the privileged communication channel for communications between internal personnel staff and people outside the organization.

Signal is the app chosen by privacy activists and journalists because of its end-to-end encryption and open-source technology, it comes from Open Whisper Systems and is available for both Androids and iOS devices.

Edward Snowden is probably his most illustrious users and testimonial.

“Use anything by Open Whisper Systems” Snowden says.

The Cryptographer and Professor at Johns Hopkins University Matt Green and the popular security expert Bruce Schneier are other two admirers of the Signal app, we have also seen the application in the popular TV series Mr. Robot.

There is no doubt, Signal is the first choice for hackers and security experts … and not only them.

In the aftermath of the Democratic National Committee hack the staffers were instructed in the use of the popular instant messaging app, also called the “Snowden-approved” app.

In December 2019, The Guardian reported that the Conservative party started using the secure messaging service Signal for its internal communications with Tory MPs, as an alternative of the insecure WhatsApp app.

Signal is easy to use like popular messaging service WhatsApp, but differently from Facebook’s owned service, it’s open-source allowing privacy and security experts to inspect its code.

The communications of the members of the European Commission are a privileged target of nation-state hackers.

In June 2018, BuzzFeed News reported that the European Union’s embassy in Moscow had been hacked and attackers exfiltrated sensitive information from its network. In December 2018, The New York Times reported that the EU’s diplomatic communications eavesdropped for three years.

Last week, the EU announced it would soon draft a new European cybersecurity strategy, it also announced it would set up a “joint cybersecurity unit” to support EU countries and organizations in the event of an attack.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – security, Signal)

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