Secure Messaging is a new innovation for confidential story-sharing and source protection, underpinning the Guardian’s commitment to investigative journalism. The Guardian has published the open source code for this important tech to enable adoption by other media organisations.
Packet data has headers that can identify where it’s coming from and where it’s going to. The contents of the packet can be securely encrypted, but destination is not. So long as you know which IPs Signal’s servers use (which is public information), it’s trivial to know when a device is sending/receiving messages with Signal.
This is also why something like Tor manages to circumvent packet sniffing, it’s impossible to know the actual destination because that’s part of the encrypted payload that a different node will decrypt and forward.
If the header isn’t encrypted it’d be easy to inspect, and thus easy to determine where it goes, which is why it matters.
Based on your questions, it sounds like you’re expecting the network traffic itself to be encrypted, as if there were a VPN. Does signal offer such a feature? My understanding is that the messages themselves are encrypted, but the traffic isn’t, but I could be wrong.
You’re talking about encryption and signal because you’re worried about folks whose network you’re connected to being able to invade your privacy, right?
I’d say it’s a pretty reasonable suggestion to say we start with those guys. If you don’t worry about those guys, who do have access to traffic info, then why bother with encryption?
It’s called traffic analysis
It’s called encryption
Packet data has headers that can identify where it’s coming from and where it’s going to. The contents of the packet can be securely encrypted, but destination is not. So long as you know which IPs Signal’s servers use (which is public information), it’s trivial to know when a device is sending/receiving messages with Signal.
This is also why something like Tor manages to circumvent packet sniffing, it’s impossible to know the actual destination because that’s part of the encrypted payload that a different node will decrypt and forward.
Wouldn’t you have to have some sort of MITM to be able to inspect that traffic?
TOR is what their already-existing tip tool uses.
Would you? Are the headers encrypted?
Does it matter? How would you get access to such information?
If the header isn’t encrypted it’d be easy to inspect, and thus easy to determine where it goes, which is why it matters.
Based on your questions, it sounds like you’re expecting the network traffic itself to be encrypted, as if there were a VPN. Does signal offer such a feature? My understanding is that the messages themselves are encrypted, but the traffic isn’t, but I could be wrong.
Easy for whom? How are you getting access to the traffic info?
You’re talking about encryption and signal because you’re worried about folks whose network you’re connected to being able to invade your privacy, right?
I’d say it’s a pretty reasonable suggestion to say we start with those guys. If you don’t worry about those guys, who do have access to traffic info, then why bother with encryption?