In an effort to improve its cybersecurity, the EU Commission is encouraging its staff to switch to the Signal messaging app.
In the world of messaging, Signal is considered the king of security. It features end-to-end encryption that is widely believed to be the best in the business. It’s so good, in fact, that its protocol serves as the basis of the more popular WhatsApp. Unlike WhatsApp, however, Signal is also open-source, ensuring a level of transparency that other apps can’t match.
Signal has recently been in the news as it works to become a more mainstream alternative to more well-known competitors. A big part of that was an investment by WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton of $50 million two years ago. Acton left Facebook over disagreements about WhatsApp’s privacy once Facebook acquires his creation. By throwing his weight—and money—behind Signal, Acton obviously sees the app as the successor to WhatsApp, and the best option for individuals who want to keep their communications secure.
The EU Commission evidently agrees, as it wants its staff to switch to the messaging app to help avoid the kind of embarrassing leaks it has experienced recently, according to Politico. The move will likely cause turmoil in the greater debate about end-to-end encryption, as governments around the world are pushing tech companies to create backdoors for government access. Mathematicians, cryptographers, scientists, tech leaders and even some lawmakers have all said such a quest is foolhardy, dangerous and impossible to achieve without fundamentally weakening encryption and opening up innocent individuals to having their data compromised.
The EU seemingly endorsing the single, most secure end-to-end encryption platform on the planet will go a long way toward making the case against backdoors or weakening of the very encryption the EU is counting on.
Image Credit: Signal (Instagram @signal_app)