If you look at the systems that are supposed to be used for classified communications, the underlying cryptography isn’t particularly different from Signal (the AES cipher can be used to protect classified material). That’s not what failed here.
The difference is that systems like Signal are designed to *facilitate* communication with anyone. Classified systems are designed to *limit* communication to authorized recipients.
Both are sensible for their respective - very different - purposes.
"Signal" was Hitler's magazine published by the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany from 1940. Recently Putin renamed his death squads Africa Corps same as the Nazi killers. Historical references names and dates are a favorite of the wanted war criminal Putin.
I hope the same name for "Signal" is just a coincidence.
Notwithstanding the "oops we accidentally included a reporter in our top secret war planning", it kinda bothers me a little that the "You must return to office, if I don't see you working you're a slacker" crowd appears to themselves wholeheartedly embrace the kind of communications tech they don't want other people using. I mean, if you don't need to be in a conference room to discuss *how to invade a country*, it seems silly to require RTO for other things.
I think the officials on the chat probably think that it also provides protection from the USG itself, so conversations can be held without being recorded.
Look, they named it the "small group", so don't go calling it a large group just because so many people were in it that nobody noticed the journalist even as Hegseth boasted of being OPSEC clean. You're making valid points and that is unfair.
If a journalist like Jeff Goldberg was “accidentally” added to the group where Vance, Hagseth, etc., were discussing highly sensitive and obviously classified foreign policy and security issues, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Russians and Chinese had access to it without any trouble. What a disgraceful level of professionalism. I doubt anyone is even considering resigning over this. 🙄
Matt Blaze reminds us that Signal provides: "No protection against certain common usage mistakes (accidentally including a reporter in your large group war planning chat)." -- @mattblaze
Next minute:
"White House inadvertently texted top-secret Yemen war plans to journalist
In extraordinary blunder top Trump cabinet members added Atlantic editor to chat discussing strikes on Houthis"
But not authorized by DOD to communicate operational information. These guys were in charge of DOD and they don’t follow the rules? A military officer would possibly be court martialed and/or discharged.
🤣🤯scary and funny at the same time. I watched several news about it because I thought it was fake, commedy or satire. But it was not and now I am stuck in a state between scary and funny.
it also facilitates: - adding journalists to your group on purpose, to show power/get a headline. - hurting Zucks feelings not using facebook, insta or whatsapp
😂 and it was my Signal group where I learned about this very 'special' Signal group and their war plotting and planning. Oh the layers and being 🇨🇦 , quite disturbing.
A timely read. It becomes apparent that Elon Musk is a showman, nothing more. He's not an engineer. The whole thing is an act. planetearthandbeyond.co/p/star…
Starting to get the itch to re-do my server, as this is the year Ubuntu 20.04 LTS loses support. Was thinking TrueNAS but wanted a little more freedom with lower ports. Now thinking about using #ZFSBootMenu on Alpine as a host for converting most everything to #docker :
I suppose my old #wifi PCI-E adapter on my desktop shot craps. Worked up the gumption to run ethernet to that that and my TV. Speed on the desktop went from 4 Mbps down to 878 Mbps! 🤯 #firstworldjoys
Got access to the Scott AFB Air Show Practice yesterday from a friend. He serves on the C-40s carrying VIPs all around the world. They actually had SPAR19 at the show, and he let me sit in the VIP section. He said he was pretty sure that this was the seat Speaker Pelosi was in flying over. 🙂
I switched my fpm over to 8.0 on Friendica, the same as my Nextcloud instance. Ever since I've been getting a notification about my opcache.interned_strings_buffer becoming full. I've increased the memory in php.ini, but it seems like it almost immediately fills up no matter the memory I give it (I have tons of RAM so can experiment). I
Seems like it caches one string to be applied over and over again to improve performance. I wonder if there are some strings generated in Friendica that are always unique and therefore always would fill up the buffer.
Doesn't seem like it's affecting anything yet, but didn't know if that's a bug or a feature.
Matt Blaze
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •If you look at the systems that are supposed to be used for classified communications, the underlying cryptography isn’t particularly different from Signal (the AES cipher can be used to protect classified material). That’s not what failed here.
The difference is that systems like Signal are designed to *facilitate* communication with anyone. Classified systems are designed to *limit* communication to authorized recipients.
Both are sensible for their respective - very different - purposes.
AI6YR Ben
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Security
xkcdViss
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Paul Will Gamble 🇨🇦
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •my fam straight up refused to abandon Whatsapp.
Reason: meh… it’s just easier
My anti-facist rants are falling on complacent ears. So I’m blissfully out of the loop on family discussions and photos. 🤷🏻♂️
skykiss ♾️🇺🇦 Vote Midterms
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •"Signal" was Hitler's magazine published by the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany from 1940. Recently Putin renamed his death squads Africa Corps same as the Nazi killers. Historical references names and dates are a favorite of the wanted war criminal Putin.
I hope the same name for "Signal" is just a coincidence.
@mattblaze
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal…
German propaganda magazine published by the Wehrmacht during WWII
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Von Javi
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Hasufin
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Chris Neklason
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Sadly, there is no defense against a classic PEBKAC attack.
(Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair)
Alex Strasheim
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •chroma0
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Daedalean
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Corb_The_Lesser
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Starraven
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •drukac
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Marek idkfa
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •1.3.6.1.4.1.61513
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Anca
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Alex 🐘
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •franebleu
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •- Yes, probably (66%, 6 votes)
- He send the invite to the wrong Jeff Goldberg (22%, 2 votes)
- No, probably not (11%, 1 vote)
9 voters. Poll end: 3 months agobigiain
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Matt Blaze reminds us that Signal provides: "No protection against certain common usage mistakes (accidentally including a reporter in your large group war planning chat)." -- @mattblaze
Next minute:
"White House inadvertently texted top-secret Yemen war plans to journalist
In extraordinary blunder top Trump cabinet members added Atlantic editor to chat discussing strikes on Houthis"
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m…
White House inadvertently texted top-secret Yemen war plans to journalist
Peter Beaumont (The Guardian)rickf
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •@jqheywood
A totally preventable PEBKAC* security incident.
* Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.
RejZoR
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Bssr4 (TЯ☭M₽ )
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Jane Vogel
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Andy Mouse
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •🧐
Where are Signal's servers based, now again? What is Signal's legal jurisdiction, now again?
Ilka
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Denton Gentry
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •I'm grateful to Signal for keeping the family conversations private, like strategizing on where we can buy eggs.
(Not even kidding on that, we've used Signal to compare egg prices while shopping)
The Icarian
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •Gmjn
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •- adding journalists to your group on purpose, to show power/get a headline.
- hurting Zucks feelings not using facebook, insta or whatsapp
Siegfried.
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •ErinMC2
in reply to Matt Blaze • • •