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Messaging clients are a dime a dozen today, but there are a few that have stood the test of time. Signal is one of those apps, thanks to its promise of ultra-secure communications, a prerequisite in the modern age. Recent social media reports claim that Signal was the victim of a cyberattack. The company is now hitting back at those reports, saying it’s part of a “misinformation campaign.”
“We’ve had an uptick in usage in Eastern Europe & rumors are circulating that Signal is hacked & compromised,” Signal said in a tweet (via TechRadar).
Signal is among of the most popular third-party secure messaging apps out there
We’re seeing these rumors appear in messages forwarded on several different apps. These rumors are often attributed to official government sources and read “attacks on Signal platform.” This is false and Signal is not under attack.
— Signal (@signalapp) February 28, 2022
As Reuters reports, multiple Russian media outlets along with Ukrainian government and banking websites have already been hit with cyberattacks. So this misinformation campaign doesn’t come across as a surprise. Fortunately, Signal is on top of this issue and has confirmed the app’s safety.
Meanwhile, Signal has multiple safeguards in place to protect its users. The app maker says it uses end-to-end encryption for messages using the Signal Protocol. This effectively means that nobody can read the messages apart from the sender and the recipient. Additionally, Signal also includes self-destructing messages, which can fully erase the message after a period of time chosen by the user.
Apps like Signal and many other apps are helping people stay in touch with their families and friends during the conflict in eastern Europe. Users can download the app for their Android or iOS devices, while there are versions for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
In an attempt to stay in sync with the changing messaging landscape, Signal recently upgraded its video calling functionality. The app now allows up to 40 participants. This is a significant jump from the previous limit of just five users. Signal built this tech from the ground up, which allows it to scale the functionality to over 40 participants.
Signal served as an alternative to WhatsApp, which witnessed a widespread exodus last year over the latter’s controversial privacy policy changes. While WhatsApp still enjoys the lion’s share of the messaging business, its dominance may not last long.