In brief
Use Signal
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021

Here's a reason: I use it every day and I'm not dead yet. https://t.co/Trhgqbwdpj
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 7, 2021
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8.46%Reading
A recent endorsement by Tesla CEO Elon Musk has propelled privacy-focused messaging app Signal to the very top of major app charts—partly thanks to WhatsApp’s recent controversial announcement.
Use Signal
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021
“Use Signal,” Musk tweeted on January 7—a day after Facebook-owned WhatsApp, one of Signal’s competitors, began pressuring its users to share their personal data with its parent social media.
According to app analytics platform App Annie, Signal is currently the most popular free app on both AppStore and Google Play. WhatsApp, on the other hand, is ranked 13 on iOS and 27 on Android.
Signal is known for using an end-to-end encryption (E2EE) protocol. In cryptography, this method is used to establish a communication channel between two parties that is impossible to “eavesdrop” on.
In E2EE, special encryption keys are created on a sender’s device, which only the recipient is able to decode. This means that data is protected not only from hackers and other malicious actors but from the Internet, server, and service providers as well. While the message itself can be intercepted and copied, it cannot be decoded without the appropriate keys.
“I trust Signal because it’s well built, but more importantly, because of how it’s built: open source, peer reviewed, and funded entirely by grants and donations. A refreshing model for how critical services should be built,” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said in the past.
Private messaging app Signal has become the most downloaded app across both iOS and Android platforms in Hong Kong, following the adoption of a Chinese law that impacts free speech within the special administrative region. Mobile app analytics firm App Annie reports (via Bloomberg) that the app has topped the charts for both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store in Hong Kong, which has more than 7.5 million residents. On Tuesday, Hong Kong began enforcing the Law of the People's Republic...
After WhatsApp’s announcement, Edward Snowden, America’s most notorious whistleblower, also confessed that he is using Signal every day—and still hasn't died from it.
“Here's a reason: I use it every day and I'm not dead yet,” Snowden said in a reply to a user asking whether Signal can really be trusted.
Here's a reason: I use it every day and I'm not dead yet. https://t.co/Trhgqbwdpj
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 7, 2021
As Decrypt reported, demand for Signal exploded following the surge of protests in the US this summer. At the time, the app just entered into the top 10 apps in the “Social Networking” category on iOS.
Today, it’s the number one overall.
The Russian hacking group GreedyBear has scaled up its operations in recent months, using 150 “weaponized Firefox extensions” to target international and English-speaking victims, according to research from Koi Security. Publishing the results of its research in a blog, U.S. and Israel-based Koi reported that the group has “redefined industrial-scale crypto theft,” using 150 weaponized Firefox extensions, close to 500 malicious executables and “dozens” of phishing websites to steal over $1 milli...
An AI-generated avatar of Joaquin Oliver, a victim of the 2018 Parkland school shooting, appeared in an interview published by former CNN reporter Jim Acosta as part of a digital campaign for gun reform. The segment, created in collaboration with Oliver’s parents and advocacy group Change the Ref, drew sharp criticism over the ethics of using AI recreations of the deceased in public media. The video was released on what would have been Joaquin’s 25th birthday, Acosta said Monday. In it, Acosta i...
North Korean hacking groups are using the lure of freelance IT work to gain access to cloud systems and steal cryptocurrencies worth millions of dollars, according to separate research from Google Cloud and security firm Wiz. Google Cloud’s H2 2025 Cloud Threat Horizons Report reveals that Google Threat Intelligence Group is “actively tracking” UNC4899, a North Korean hacking unit that successfully hacked two companies after contacting employees via social media. In both cases, UNC4899 gave the...