privacy by design<\/a>. This means that from the moment of its conception and initial developments, measures were already taken into consideration to protect people’s privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\nE2E Encryption<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
This is one of the most important elements regarding communication protection. Signal uses end-to-end (E2E) encryption<\/strong> in all chats, both individual and group, which prevents “third parties” from easily accessing your communications. Who could access your communications if you don’t use E2E encryption? Attackers scanning your network or networks you connect to, Internet providers, the company that provides the tool, and even the government itself through its surveillance services. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHowever, it is worth clarifying that E2E encryption does not make your communications 100% secure<\/strong>, as there are many other “attack surfaces”. An example of an attack could be the installation of “malware” (like Pegasus), which allows remote control of your device and thus reading the messages before they are encrypted. <\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat this type of encryption does guarantee is that the messages exchanged in the communication itself are unreadable to third parties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Metadata Protection and Device Security<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Signal presents some features that allow protecting certain metadata, that is, contextual information beyond the communication itself. Some of these are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Hidden Sender (Sealed Sender): hides information about who sent the message. The Signal server knows who the packet is addressed to for delivery, but does not need to know who sent it, minimizing stored metadata<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Incognito Keyboard: disables personalized learning of your phone’s keyboard (like Gboard or SwiftKey) while using Signal, preventing the system from recording words, names, or writing habits in its local dictionary or in the cloud<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Screen Security: prevents taking screenshots within the app and blocks the content preview of the chat when you switch between recent apps. Be careful that this does not prevent capturing the screen with external tools anyway.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
No tracking, no ads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Signal does not collect user data, nor communication metadata, and does not contain ads. That is, it does not save information about who you talk to, when, or from what location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In short, it does not spy or use people’s information for advertising. It also does not commercialize data, since it belongs to a non-profit foundation, and includes “Hidden Sender” so the server does not even know who sends each message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a free tool<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Signal is free software, which means that its source code is available on GitHub and can be audited by anyone. This helps detect vulnerabilities faster, ensure there are no unwanted behaviors or hidden data collection, and verify that encryption is executed correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ephemeral messages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
It offers the option to set temporary messages that disappear after a set time, keeping chats “clean”. This is important because even if the device were confiscated, unlocked, and its encryption broken, those messages would no longer exist, so there is no record. However, it is important to see the section on backups, below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alias<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Usually, messengers use the SIM card or phone number as a personal identifier. When you exchange contacts with someone, through your phone you are giving your complete identification, as to have a SIM, providers usually require identity documents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The alias in Signal serves to exchange contacts without needing to share your phone number, keeping your identity private. It prevents strangers from having direct access to your phone number, since by sharing your alias, the person can find you and start chatting. What’s interesting is that you can change your alias every so often. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Face Blurring<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
With Signal, we have the option of identity protection in photos through automatic or manual blurring of faces. Both when taking a photo and when using one from your gallery, Signal allows you to blur faces automatically or manually. This means you can say “blur all the faces in this photo”, or touch with your finger and blur only the faces you want to protect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
PIN Account Protection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In addition to your phone number, the Signal account is linked and protected with a PIN, that is, a numeric code that prevents another person from registering your number on another device. So, just as often the password is the first factor and the numeric code is the second, here it is a bit different: the SIM with your number is the first factor and the chosen PIN is the second. This is an extra layer of protection for your account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Backups<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Signal allows you to make backup copies of your message base, which, if managed correctly, allows recovering your messages in case of loss or theft of the device. But this functionality can sometimes also serve observers to extract information from your communications, either on the phone itself or in some cloud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you delete the backup copies, you reduce the risk of someone accessing old conversations, that is, if a copy does not exist, there is no possibility of that information being extracted from a backup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is worth noting that by deleting backup copies and activating message auto-destruction, your history will be very short and clean. This could be an inconvenience for people who use these messengers as “memory”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicknames<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Assign nicknames to your known or trusted contacts: you can change the name displayed in the app for the people you are chatting with. The nicknames you choose will be visible only to you. You will still see any changes in that person’s profile name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IP Address Protection in Calls<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
By default, Signal calls connect directly between you and the other person. This means the other person’s device can see your IP address. With a court order to your Internet provider, your IP address can be used to identify you specifically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Enabling “Always Relay Calls” routes your calls through Signal’s servers, hiding your IP address from the other party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cross-platform<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
As well as being able to use it on your phone, it has desktop versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It means you can use it on almost any device. This makes it more comfortable because you can continue chatting from wherever you want without depending only on the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Avoid Network Blocks (Domain Fronting \/ Anti-censorship)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Signal includes tools to continue working even if your Internet provider, a public WiFi network, or a government tries to block the application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Block Evasion: if Signal detects that the network is not allowing you to connect, it automatically disguises its messages so they look like common web traffic (as if you were visiting any random webpage). In this way, the network filters do not discover that you are using Signal and allow you to keep chatting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Use of proxies in the app: if the block on your network is very strict and the app fails to connect, you can activate a “proxy” directly in Signal settings. A proxy works like a bridge or secure detour that bypasses the block and helps you send your messages without problems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Personal Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
It allows you to send yourself text, images, or videos to view later or to access them from another device. Also, this functionality, called “Private Notes”, can also be configured with auto-destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For all these reasons, if you care about your privacy, as well as your security and that of your groups or organizations, it may be a good time to give Signal a try. It can also serve to separate personal chats from work ones, or simply to have a place to chat without surveillance activated and reducing your digital footprint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>
Learn more on the official Signal page: https:\/\/signal.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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