Author: Frederick Scholl, Associate Teaching Professor of Cybersecurity, Quinnipiac University

When top White House defense and national security leaders discussed plans for an attack on targets in Yemen over the messaging app Signal, it raised many questions about operational security and recordkeeping and national security laws. It also puts Signal in the spotlight. Why do so many government officials, activists and journalists use Signal for secure messaging? The short answer is that it uses end-to-end encryption, meaning no one in position to eavesdrop on the communication – including Signal itself – can read messages they intercept. But Signal isn’t the only messaging app that uses end-to-end encryption, and end-to-end encryption…