Latest news with #encryptedMessaging
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Elon Musk Says X's WhatsApp Competitor XChat Rolls Out This Week
Billionaire and X owner Elon Musk announced XChat, an encrypted messaging and calling platform considered a possible competitor to WhatsApp, will begin rolling out on X this week with features like vanishing messages and the ability to send 'any kind of file.' Musk said XChat will begin rolling out this week. (Photo by) Musk announced in a post on X Monday morning XChat will begin rolling out to X users 'this week,' barring any issues. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
WIRED
18-05-2025
- Politics
- WIRED
How the Signal Knockoff App TeleMessage Got Hacked in 20 Minutes
During a recent cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump's then national security adviser, Mike Waltz, must have been bored. Apparently unaware of the photographer behind him, he was caught clandestinely checking his Signal messages under the table. Only he wasn't using the official Signal app, which is widely considered to be the gold standard of encrypted messaging apps. He was actually using a clone of Signal called TeleMessage Signal, or TM SGNL. This app, made by TeleMessage (which was recently acquired by Smarsh), works in almost exactly the same way as Signal, except that it also archives copies of all the messages passing through it, shattering all of its security guarantees. Two days after the photo of Waltz was published, an anonymous source told me that they had hacked TeleMessage. 'I would say the whole process took about 15 to 20 minutes,' the hacker said, as Joseph Cox and I reported in 404 Media. 'It wasn't much effort at all.' Representatives from TeleMessage and Smarsh did not respond to a request for comment. The exploit that the hacker used was incredibly simple. At the time, we chose not to publish any details about it because it would be so easy for others to replicate. Since then, TeleMessage has temporarily suspended all services, which is now why WIRED can share exactly how this hack took place without risking anyone's private data. 'I first looked at the admin panel and noticed that they were hashing passwords to MD5 on the client side, something that negates the security benefits of hashing passwords, as the hash effectively becomes the password,' the hacker said. (Hashing is a way of cryptographically obfuscating a password stored on a system, and MD5 is an inadequate version of the algorithms used to do so.) Drop Site News has since reported that it appears that this admin panel exposed email addresses, passwords, usernames, and phone numbers to the public. The weak password hashing, and the fact that the TeleMessage site was programmed with JSP—an early 2000s-era technology for creating web apps in Java—gave the hacker 'the impression that their security must be poor.' Hoping to find vulnerable JSP files, the hacker then used feroxbuster, a tool that can quickly find publicly available resources on a website, on
ABC News
12-05-2025
- ABC News
High Court to decide if information gathered on encrypted messaging app AN0M was legally obtained
The High Court will on Tuesday delve into the murky world of organised crime and encrypted messaging on an app known as AN0M, which was secretly controlled by the FBI and the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The operation known as "Ironside" began in 2018, when phones with the app began to circulate among criminal elements, encouraged by people the police identified as "criminal influencers", who unwittingly recommended the devices. It appeared to be a secure way to send messages, except that every communication was being copied and forwarded to police. In 2021 there was a worldwide crackdown. The app had collected about 28 million messages, including 19 million relating to Australia. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) said there were nearly 1,000 arrests globally, with 42 tonnes of illicit drugs and $US58 million in cash and crypto currency seized. According to AFP data, there have been nearly 100 people in Australia charged, with drugs, firearms, and substantial amounts of money seized. The ACIC said at the time the operation "provided voluminous, invaluable intelligence and insight that has never been obtained before by Australian law enforcement". But now two South Australian men, who are alleged members of the Comancheros bikie group, want the High Court to find that information was not legally obtained. The two are charged with belonging to a criminal group and possession of prohibited firearms. Their lawyers will tell the High Court the evidence against them collected from AN0M should be inadmissible in their trial, because its collection breached The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979. "The question is whether communications obtained covertly by the AN0M application were obtained as the result of an unlawful interception," their submissions to the court said. The pair have so far failed in two appeals against the use of the information, but were granted special leave to appeal by the High Court last year. Soon afterwards the case took a new turn when the Commonwealth changed the law, to back up the use of the app by police. On Tuesday the High Court will also consider if the new law is valid. In their submissions the men's lawyers said it interferes with the exercise of judicial power guaranteed under the constitution. "It is an invalid exercise of legislative power," submissions for the men said. The lawyers will tell the High Court the new law undermines the institutional integrity of the courts, removing the "fact finding" function which is a hallmark of judicial power. But the Commonwealth will tell the High Court the new law does not direct the courts to find any fact, and is valid under the constitution. The Commonwealth also said in its submissions the new act made no difference to the interception laws. "[The] Court of Appeal was correct to conclude that the AN0M evidence did not involve an interception in contravention … of the Interception Act," Commonwealth submissions said. The attorneys-general for New South Wales, Western Australia and Victoria have intervened, along with the Director of Public Prosecutions for South Australia, which has applied to intervene in support of the Commonwealth.
