I read that the EU have recommended staff switch from WhatsApp to Signal for encrypted communications due to privacy concerns over Facebook owned WhatsApp.
https://www.politico.eu/pro/eu-commission-to-staff-switch-to-signal-messaging-app/
I use WhatsApp at times but have no experience of Signal - any comments out there??
Never even heard of it - but use Whatsapp for pretty much all my communication (and FB Messenger!), personally not business.
It would take a dramatic shift in mindset/concerns for everyone to start using something new. 99% of all my messaging is via whatsapp with people all over the world.
Not something iām worrying aboutā¦
Iām pretty sure any FB interceptor would be vaguely suicidal after an hour or so of reading some of the shite my mother puts on WhatsAppā¦
Theyāre welcome to try and understand itā¦when they do, can they let me in on its secrets please?
I guess because āmostā people have a FB account you just get sucked into using Messenger and WhatsApp as itās part of their infrastructure, whereas Signal is a stand alone system so not so well known. getting people to use Signal will help stick 2 fingers up at Zuckerberg and his inactivity on privacy.
WhatsApp is end to to end encrypted, they are just saying we dont know for certain that FB dont have a book door. They probably do. My WhatsApp is purely personal, if FB want to read the memes and gifs my kids send me, or me asking my wife what shall we get for tea, and target some ads based on those then I dont care.
Not necessarily true. Whatsapp was independent initially. Then fb bought them up. Before fb acquired them, I was already sending nearly all my messages via that platform. On acquisition, fb made some commitment to keep Chinese walls in place. If they do or not is another matter, but given their fairly firm stance on not decrypting messages for fairly high profile police/authority investigations, Iām not overly concerned. I also donāt have anything to hide, so again, no concern!
Just to throw something else in the mix, HotChillee has moved everything from WhatsApp onto Slack. Iām struggling to see the benefits myself and itās another app to keep an eye on, but they are raving about it.
On a personal basis, unless you have something to hide, is there much point moving?
canāt disagree
I decided to get me a Signal app and account - problem is I have no-one to talk to on it as I donāt know anyone else who uses it! 
Obvs, if I was exchanging sensitive info, Iād write it down in code, stuff it in a drystone wall somewhere and give the recipient a grid reference 
thatās called geocaching innitā¦ 
or point them towards a very obvious tree and stone that doesnāt belong there
itās all about three words now isnāt it? 
In the olden days, it was āletterboxingā on Dartmoor!
There is no ābetterā in one communication method over another, it all depends on your personal threat model, and how you way up those risks. The major difference between Signal and WhatsApp is in the metadata, Facebook know who you talk to, and when, and possibly where, and the record is kept, you canāt delete it, the police can access it, your spouse could ask you to get a copy of it etc. So for a risk model of "Iām having an affair, I donāt want my spouse to know I was talking to +447ā¦ I said I was in the middle of that ironman. Then Signal is ābetterā.
If however your big risk is losing your phone and losing access to your archive of messages which means your spouse then gets annoyed with you 'cos you were relying on the chat history to tell you when birthdays and anniversaries were, then WhatsApp might be better, 'cos the default is to archive messages.
MITM threats are very low down for most of us, itās likely only employer and spouse who are in a position to even come close to doing it, so certainly if youāre whistleblowing your employer donāt go near their networks (or their devices, and donāt install employer software on your device).
For a gov bod, both metadata and MITM is a more real risk, and a commercial org can certainly use that metadata for profit - surely some of you army-like people mustāve been in signals and know that knowing that some groups are talking to each other more/differently to usual means somethingā¦
Oh and Slack is crap.
Which is best to use if your going on Hunted or Heist. Asking for a friend.
Not on WhatsApp. Letās tally up what Iām not on.
FB
Linkedin
Twitter
Insta
Snapchat
Strava
I have no cloud on any device, two external HDs, ( 1 Mac, 1 Win), we have an iPhone, iPad and MacBook in the house and none of them talk or synch with each other.
We also donāt do any banking on our phone and I removed Android Pay from mine.
Thatās what comes of working in the industry.
Thatās actually rather intriguing as to what your concerns are that led to such an approach. I accept there are loss of privacy consequences, but the simple convenience (which is huge of a lot of those things) more than outweighs that for me. And I come back to the point of having nothing to hide, so that convenience makes it more than worthwhile.
Your active avoidance has probably placed you on a list 
