The encrypted messaging app called Signals has attracted attention and questions after Trump’s chief executive, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegses and Vice President JD Vance. I used the service We will include Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg in the chat to discuss highly careless military operations.
Goldberg published an Atlantic article on Monday about how it was added to 18 chats at traffic lights earlier this month to discuss military strikes in Yemen, writing at first that he “didn’t think it was real.”
In a statement to CBS News after the story was released, the National Security Council said the message appears to be “real.”
Using Signals To argue is to raise questions about the app, such as the level of security for hackers and other bad actors. According to National Security Publications Act, it is an app that many Americans may not be used to, given that the signal had around 70 million users in 2024.
President Trump told reporters Tuesday that he asked national security adviser Mike Waltz. He told Goldberg to add him to the group chat and “quickly research” as “quickly research” the use of signals by government officials.
This is what you need to know about the service.
What is a signal?
Signal is an encrypted service for text messaging, but it can also handle phone and video calls, making it a versatile app for talking to others on secure channels. Up to 1,000 people can join group chats and can be set to delete messages after a certain period of time.
PP Foresight Analyst Paolo Pescatore told CBS MoneyWatch, “Users are gaining it for end-to-end encryption.
That encryption prevents third parties from viewing or making calls from the conversation’s content. In other words, messages and calls sent by signaling are scrambled, and only the senders and receivers on both ends have the key to deciphering them.
Unlike another popular messaging app, Telegram, encryption on signal is turned on by default. The signal also states that it does not collect or store sensitive information.
“Signal messages and phones are inaccessible as they are always end-to-end encrypted, private and security,” the service states.
Signal did not immediately respond to requests for comment that the Trump administration used the app.
Who owns the signal?
Signal, set up by co-founders Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton, according to the foundation’s website, is owned by the Nonprofit Signal Foundation to not only support the operation of the app, but also to “explor the future of private communication.” The foundation says it is a “nonprofit organization that has no advertisers or investors and is maintained only by people who use it and value it.
The foundation’s board has five members, including Marlinspike and Acton. He co-founded WhatsApp and donated $50 million to establish the foundation.
The signaling app was created more than a decade ago by Marlinspike, who was temporarily head of product security on Twitter after selling a mobile security startup (a mobile security startup called Whisper System) to a social media company in 2011. Marlinspike has integrated one existing open source app for text and voice calls.
Can I hack the signal?
Signal promotes the privacy of its services, and experts agree that it is safer than traditional texting.
But they also warn that it could be hacked. And in February 2025, the National Security Agency sent employees special operational security news. caveat According to internal NSA documents obtained by CBS News, there is a signal app vulnerability.
“Vulnerabilities have been identified in signal messenger applications. The use of signals by common targets of surveillance and espionage has made applications a high value target for intercepting sensitive information,” internal bulletins say.
Signal responded to the breaking news in a social media post Tuesday, saying that the NSA “memos used the term “vulnerability” in relation to signals, but it has nothing to do with signal coretech. “It’s a warning against phishing scams targeting signal users.”
“Phishing is not new and is not a flaw in the technology underlying encryption and signals,” the company said. “Phishing attacks are a constant threat to popular apps and websites.”
Government officials use signals to communicate with organizations, such as scheduling sensitive meetings. However, in the Biden administration, people who had permission to download it on White House-issued mobile phones were instructed to use the app sparingly, according to a former national security official who served in the administration.
“Unlike other end-to-end cryptographic messaging services, Signal boasts a rich range of features,” Pescatore said. “But hackers are constantly wandering around, finding their weaknesses and using the app maliciously.”
What is the signal normally used for?
For end-to-end encryption, signals are often used by national security and intelligence reporting experts, particularly activists, according to LawFare.
A recent Associated Press review found that encrypted messaging apps are becoming increasingly popular with government officials, with some using government mobile numbers while others registering their accounts with their personal numbers.
Are there any legal issues with government officials using signals?
Probably yes. Sharing sensitive national security details via signals could violate the spying law, CBS News national security contributor Sam Vinograd said Tuesday that he was working for former President Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Agency.
“By conveying confidential information about unsecured platforms such as signalling, senior U.S. government officials, we can increase the likelihood that foreign governments have access to sensitive operational security plans, which could put our own military at risk,” Vinograd said.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday “I don’t know anything about the signal, but I wasn’t involved in this,” but he showed that other departments of the government are using the app.
“I’ve heard it’s used by a lot of groups, and I’ve heard it’s used a lot of it in the media,” he said. “A lot of the military, I think I’m successful. Sometimes people can get on board with those things. That’s one of the prices you pay when you’re not sitting in a room in a situation where you don’t have a phone. This is always the best thing.
Trump said Signal is “the No. 1 device or app used.”
On the other hand, democratic lawmakers are Request an investigation Why highly Confidential Information Rather than making government channels safe, it was discussed on commercial messaging apps.
Goldberg of Atlantic also claims that some of the group chat messages are designed to disappear after a week, while others in four weeks could be a violation of federal law requiring the preservation of official records.
I contributed to this report.
