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KOMPUTER JADUL - US government officials, US President Donald Trump used the Signal instant messaging app to share secret war plans. It turns out, the chat that had been spread to a group included a prominent news journalist.
Democratic lawmakers immediately asked for a congressional investigation into this high-level security leak. The reason is, under US law, leaking state secrets due to negligence can be categorized as a criminal act.
The negligence of Trump administration officials was first reported by The Atlantic. When asked for comment, Trump claimed to know nothing and bluntly said he was "not a fan of The Atlantic".
The contents of the confidential information shared in the chat were related to attacks on the Houthis.
Regardless of the incident of a military information leak that occurred, it is necessary to examine whether Signal, which is a competitor to WhatsApp, is the right platform for government officials to use to discuss state secrets.
How Safe is Signal?
Signal is an open-source platform that is fully encrypted and runs on a centralized server managed by Signal Messenger.
The only user information stored on the server is the mobile phone number, the date the user joined the platform, and the last login information.
User contacts, chat content, and other communications within the platform are stored on the user's device. Signal also provides a setting option to automatically delete chats after a certain period of time.
Signal also does not embed advertising or affiliate marketing on its platform. The platform also does not track user data, according to information on its official website.
In addition, Signal provides the option for users to hide their mobile phone numbers from other users. There are also further safeguards to verify message exchanges.
Most importantly, Signal does not use specific government encryption and does not use hosting from any government servers.
"Signal has a good and trusted reputation when it comes to the security of its community," said Ricky Cole, founder of cybersecurity firm iVerify which helps protect smartphone users from hacker attacks.
"The risk of leaks in discussing sensitive information on Signal does not mean Signal is not safe," he added, quoted from Reuters, Wednesday (3/26/2025).
This is because Signal is a messaging service that uses end-to-end encryption. This means that service providers cannot access chats within the application, as well as phone calls made by users. That means users can rest assured that their privacy is protected.
Signal Founders
Signal was founded in 2012 by Moxie Marlinspike and Whittaker, according to the company's website.
In February 2018, Marlinspike and WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton started the non-profit Signal Foundation, which currently oversees the Signal app.
Acton left WhatsApp in 2017 over differences of opinion regarding the use of user data and advertising targeting users.
Signal is not affiliated with any major tech company and has never been acquired by another company, according to its website.
