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Signal Secure Messaging App Now Encrypts Sender's Identity As Well

Signal Secure Messaging App Now Encrypts Sender's Identity As Well

Oct 30, 2018
Signal, the popular end-to-end encrypted messaging app, is planning to roll out a new feature that aims to hide the sender's identity from potential attackers trying to intercept the communication. Although messages send via secure messaging services, like Signal , WhatsApp , and Telegram , are fully end-to-end encrypted as they transmit across their servers, each message leaves behind some of the metadata information that reveals who sent the message to whom and when. The new feature, dubbed " Sealed Sender ," announced by Signal is going to further reduce the amount of information that is accessible to the company itself. However, you should note that Signal never stores metadata or logs of information on its users like who sends messages to each other and when, but the new feature would protect the sender's identity in case the communication is somehow intercepted. How Does the Signal's Sealed Sender Feature Protect Metadata? According to a blog post
Another severe flaw in Signal desktop app lets hackers steal your chats in plaintext

Another severe flaw in Signal desktop app lets hackers steal your chats in plaintext

May 16, 2018
For the second time in less than a week, users of the popular end-to-end encrypted Signal messaging app have to update their desktop applications once again to patch another severe code injection vulnerability. Discovered Monday by the same team of security researchers, the newly discovered vulnerability poses the same threat as the previous one, allowing remote attackers to inject malicious code on the recipients' Signal desktop app just by sending them a message—without requiring any user interaction. To understand more about the first code injection vulnerability ( CVE-2018-10994 ), you can read our previous article covering how researchers find the Signal flaw and how it works. The only difference between the two is that the previous flaw resides in the function that handles links shared in the chat, whereas the new vulnerability (CVE-2018-11101) exists in a different function that handles the validation of quoted messages, i.e., quoting a previous message in a reply
How to Find and Fix Risky Sharing in Google Drive

How to Find and Fix Risky Sharing in Google Drive

Mar 06, 2024Data Security / Cloud Security
Every Google Workspace administrator knows how quickly Google Drive becomes a messy sprawl of loosely shared confidential information. This isn't anyone's fault; it's inevitable as your productivity suite is purposefully designed to enable real-time collaboration – both internally and externally.  For Security & Risk Management teams, the untenable risk of any Google Drive footprint lies in the toxic combinations of sensitive data, excessive permissions, and improper sharing. However, it can be challenging to differentiate between typical business practices and potential risks without fully understanding the context and intent.  Material Security, a company renowned for its innovative method of protecting sensitive data within employee mailboxes, has recently launched  Data Protection for Google Drive  to safeguard the sprawl of confidential information scattered throughout Google Drive with a powerful discovery and remediation toolkit. How Material Security helps organ
Hackers Reveal How Code Injection Attack Works in Signal Messaging App

Hackers Reveal How Code Injection Attack Works in Signal Messaging App

May 14, 2018
After the revelation of the eFail attack details, it's time to reveal how the recently reported code injection vulnerability in the popular end-to-end encrypted Signal messaging app works. As we reported last weekend, Signal has patched its messaging app for Windows and Linux that suffered a code injection vulnerability discovered and reported by a team of white-hat hackers from Argentina. The vulnerability could have been exploited by remote attackers to inject a malicious payload inside the Signal desktop app running on the recipients' system just by sending them a specially crafted link—without requiring any user interaction. According to a blog post published today, the vulnerability was accidentally discovered while researchers–Iván Ariel Barrera Oro, Alfredo Ortega and Juliano Rizzo–were chatting on Signal messenger and one of them shared a link of a vulnerable site with an XSS payload in its URL. However, the XSS payload unexpectedly got executed on the Sig
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Self-destructing messages received on 'Signal for Mac' can be recovered later

Self-destructing messages received on 'Signal for Mac' can be recovered later

May 09, 2018
It turns out that macOS client for the popular end-to-end encrypted messaging app Signal fails to properly delete disappearing (self-destructing) messages  from the recipient's system, leaving the content of your sensitive messages at risk of getting exposed. For those unaware, the disappearing messages in Signal self-destruct after a particular duration set by the sender, leaving no trace of it on the receiver's device or Signal servers. However, security researcher Alec Muffett noticed that the messages that are supposed to be "disappearing" can still be seen—even if they are deleted from the app. Another security researcher Patrick Wardle reproduced the issue and explained that macOS makes a copy (partial for long messages) of disappearing messages in a user-readable database of macOS's Notification Center, from where they can be recovered anytime later. If you want to keep an on your incoming messages without having to check your inbox obsessively
WhatsApp Flaw Could Allow 'Potential Attackers' to Spy On Encrypted Group Chats

WhatsApp Flaw Could Allow 'Potential Attackers' to Spy On Encrypted Group Chats

Jan 10, 2018
A more dramatic revelation of 2018—an outsider can secretly eavesdrop on your private end-to-end encrypted group chats on WhatsApp and Signal messaging apps. Considering protection against three types of attackers—malicious user, network attacker, and malicious server—an end-to-end encryption protocol plays a vital role in securing instant messaging services. The primary purpose of having end-to-end encryption is to stop trusting the intermediate servers in such a way that no one, not even the company or the server that transmits the data, can decrypt your messages or abuse its centralized position to manipulate the service. In order words—assuming the worst-case scenario—a corrupt company employee should not be able to eavesdrop on the end-to-end encrypted communication by any mean. However, so far even the popular end-to-end encrypted messaging services, like WhatsApp, Threema and Signal, have not entirely achieved zero-knowledge system. Researchers from Ruhr-Universität
A Company Offers $500,000 For Secure Messaging Apps Zero-Day Exploits

A Company Offers $500,000 For Secure Messaging Apps Zero-Day Exploits

Aug 24, 2017
How much does your privacy cost? It will soon be sold for half a Million US dollars. A controversial company specialises in acquiring and reselling zero-day exploits is ready to pay up to US$500,000 for working zero-day vulnerabilities targeting popular secure messenger applications, such as Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp. Zerodium announced a new pricing structure on Wednesday, paying out $500,000 for fully functional remote code execution (RCE) and local privilege escalation (LPE) vulnerabilities in Signal, WhatsApp, iMessage, Viber, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and Telegram. The payouts for all these secure messengers have been increased after tech companies introduced end-to-end encryption in their apps, making it more difficult for anyone to compromise their messaging platforms. The same payout is offered for remote code execution and local privilege escalation security flaws in default mobile email applications. Launched in 2015, Zerodium is a Washington, DC-based p
Signal Messaging App Rolls Out Encrypted Video Calling

Signal Messaging App Rolls Out Encrypted Video Calling

Feb 15, 2017
WhatsApp and Facebook have so far the largest end-to-end encrypted video calling network of all, but now another popular end-to-end encrypted messaging app recommended by whistleblower Edward Snowden is ready to give them a really tough competition. The Signal app, which is widely considered the most secure of all other encrypted messaging apps, released video calling feature on Tuesday for both Android and iOS in a new update. Developed by open source software group Open Whisper System, Signal is a free and open source messaging application specially designed for Android and iOS users to make secure and encrypted messages and voice calls. Even the Signal Protocol powers the end-to-end encryption built into WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Google Allo's Incognito mode as well. Signal has already been providing fully end-to-end encrypted chat and voice calling features, but the newly added feature will make it even easier for privacy conscious people to convey their inf
Signal is Most Secure Messenger, 'Useless Data' Obtained by FBI Proves It All

Signal is Most Secure Messenger, 'Useless Data' Obtained by FBI Proves It All

Oct 04, 2016
Do you trust your messaging app even though it uses end-to-end encryption? As I previously said end-to-end encryption doesn't mean that your messages are secure enough to hide your trace. It's because most of the messaging apps still record and store a lot of metadata on your calls and messages that could reveal some of your personal information including dates and durations of communication, as well as the participants' phone numbers. Apple's iMessage app is the most recent and best example of this scenario. Just recently it was reported that the company stores a lot of information about its end-to-end encrypted iMessage, that could reveal your contacts and location, and even share this data with law enforcement via court orders. But if you are using open source end-to-end encrypted Signal   app, you are on the safer side. Trust me! As we previously reported that the Signal app, which is widely considered the most secure of all other encrypted messaging a
Using 'Signal' for Encrypted Chats? You Shouldn't Skip Its Next Update

Using 'Signal' for Encrypted Chats? You Shouldn't Skip Its Next Update

Sep 16, 2016
Two Researchers have discovered a couple of vulnerabilities in Signal , the popular end-to-end encrypted messaging app recommended by whistleblower Edward Snowden. One of those vulnerabilities could allow potential attackers to add random data to the attachments of encrypted messages sent by Android users, while another bug could allow hackers to remotely crash vulnerable devices. The vulnerabilities have just been patched, but the updated version of Signal is yet available on the Github open source repository, and not on the Google's official Play Store for Android apps, leaving millions of privacy conscious people vulnerable to attacks. That means, if you have installed Signal messaging app via Google Play Store, like other millions of Android users, you are still vulnerable to hackers. Developed by open source software group Open Whisper System, Signal is a free and open source messaging application specifically designed for Android and iOS users to make secure and e
Report: Nothing useful found on San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone

Report: Nothing useful found on San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone

Apr 15, 2016
The San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone that the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said was critical in their investigation has absolutely nothing useful on it , at least so far. Yes, the same iPhone that was subject of so much attention from the past few months. Here's a brief look at what happened in recent months over the iPhone: The DoJ and Apple were engaged in a legal battle over a court order that was forcing Apple to help the FBI access data on a locked iPhone tied to Syed Farook. Farook was one of two terrorists involved in the San Bernardino shooting incident last year that left 14 people dead. The FBI desperately wanted access to that locked iPhone , not because it was expecting any case-breaking evidence on Farook's work-issued iPhone, but it was just trying to gather all available information, leaving no stone unturned. When Apple refused to comply with the court order, the FBI found an altern
Signal 2.0 — Free iPhone App for Encrypted Calls and Texts

Signal 2.0 — Free iPhone App for Encrypted Calls and Texts

Mar 03, 2015
An open source software group, Open Whisper Systems , has announced the release of Signal 2.0 — the second version of its free and open source messaging application for iPhone and iPad users. Signal  app is specifically designed to make secure and easy-to-use encrypted voice calling. But that's what the application was providing in its previous release introduced last July with  Signal 1.0 . Apple's iMessage also provides encrypted communication, but it was challenged by security researchers in 2013, revealing that  Apple controls the key infrastructure  and could, in turn, be compelled to change a key anytime they want, and read the content of your messages. But there was no way to send secure messages from an iPhone iMessage to an Android phone, or vice versa, unless you signed up for a monthly subscription plan and got the person you wanted to communicate with to sign up for it too. GAME CHANGER: SIGNAL 2.0 Signal 2.0 lets you send end-to-end encrypted messages to us
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