Frances Haugen, one of (now) multiple Facebook whistleblowers who have come forward in recent years with damning testimony related to product safety, gave testimony in front of the UK parliament today — where, in one key moment, she was invited to clarify her views on end-to-end encryption following a report in the British newspaper the […]
WhatsApp now lets users encrypt their chat backups in the cloud
WhatsApp is beginning to roll out a new feature that will provide its two billion users the option to encrypt their chat history backup in iCloud or Google Drive, patching a major loophole that has been exploited by governments to obtain and review private communication between individuals. WhatsApp has long encrypted chats between users on […]
Telegram says it added 70M users during day of Facebook and WhatsApp outage
Facebook’s hours-long outage on Monday may have hurt the company, its founder, shareholders, and many businesses that rely on the social juggernaut’s services. But for its instant messaging rivals, it was a very good day. Telegram founder and chief executive Pavel Durov said on Tuesday that his instant messaging app added a staggering 70 million […]
Signal, the encrypted messaging app, is currently down for many users
Update: In a tweet, Signal said the disruption is due to a hosting outage. Hold tight, folks! Signal is currently down, due to a hosting outage affecting parts of our service. We’re working on bringing it back up. — Signal (@signalapp) September 27, 2021 Signal is down for many users right now. Its status website […]
WhatsApp will finally let users encrypt their chat backups in the cloud
WhatsApp said on Friday it will give its two billion users the option to encrypt their chat backups to the cloud, taking a significant step to put a lid on one of the tricky ways private communication between individuals on the app can be compromised. The Facebook-owned service has end-to-end encrypted chats between users for […]
MobileCoin closes on $66 million in equity in Series B round
MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency business that counts founder Moxie Marlinspike of the encrypting messaging app Signal as its earliest technical advisor, has raised $66 million in Series B funding from a long list of investors, including Alameda Research, Berggruen Holdings, BlockTower Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, Vy Capital, and earlier backers General Catalyst and […]
Signal now lets you choose disappearing messages by default for new chats
The encrypted chat app Signal is adding a few new options for users looking to lock down their messages. The app will now allow anyone to turn on a default timer for disappearing messages, automatically applying the settings to any newly initiated conversations. Signal’s disappearing messages option deletes chats for both the sender and receiver […]
Twitter now in compliance with India’s new IT rules, government says
Twitter is now complying with India’s new IT rules, New Delhi told a court Tuesday, in a move that is expected to ease months-long tension between the American social media network and the government of the key overseas market. A lawyer representing the Indian government told the Delhi High Court that Twitter’s recent steps — appointment […]
A Silicon Valley VC firm with $1.8B in assets was hit by ransomware
Advanced Technology Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm with more than $1.8 billion in assets under its management, was hit by a ransomware attack in July that saw cybercriminals steal personal information on the company’s private investors, or limited partners (LPs). In a letter to the Maine attorney general’s office, ATV said it became […]