this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2026
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410
German police read Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp messages without breaking encryption (cybernews.com)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by schizoidman@lemmy.zip to c/technology@lemmy.world
139 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/71321898

Netzpoltik details that police are able to gain access in this way either through physical access to someone’s phone or by intercepting verification codes via a state-sanctioned phishing attack or intercepting SMS messages via telephone surveillance

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[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Signal doesn't keep messages either. Do you know what they can serve FBI every time they ask? Nothing but number at first seen date. They don't have your metadata.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

then why does it have a database?

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Here's what he documentation says;

Messages persist in memory or in a database until they cross a threshold of time, typically on the order of days.

... Or wait...

Oops, that was from Simplex, who has a database, that didn't come from Signal's documentation

https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmq/blob/master/protocol/overview-tjr.md

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

cherry picking.

By default, routers do not retain access logs, and permanently delete messages and queues when requested. Messages persist in memory or in a database until they cross a threshold of time, typically on the order of days.[0] There is still a risk that a router maliciously records all queues and messages (even though encrypted) sent via the same transport connection to gain a partial knowledge of the user's communications graph and other meta-data.

what this means is don't blindly trust a random public router.

if you host your own router, you can set the threshold to hours or seconds. you can also ensure that your router isn't maliciously storing records.

simplex uses an in-memory queue to store messages for delivery. if the server was extracted for legal measures, this means the messages are erased and difficult if not impossible to collect.

for signal, they are written to disk. this means there is evidence of communications between users. even if you host your own signal server, it will be there.

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Liar

You're claiming Signal does these things when it doesn't, and claim Simplex doesn't do what's in the documentation

By the way, the Simplex CEO supports nazis