As EU member states prepare to vote on plans to mandate tech companies to introduce technology to scan messages before they are encrypted, Signal warns that Chat Control will create new security risks
As EU member states prepare to vote on plans to mandate tech companies to introduce technology to scan messages before they are encrypted, Signal warns that Chat Control will create new security risks
European proposals to require technology companies to scan the contents of communications sent through encrypted email and messaging services pose an “existential catastrophic risk”, it was claimed last night.
Encrypted messaging service Signal, which is widely used by governments, businesses and the public to send secure messaging services, warned that passing new legislation “negates the very purpose of encryption”.
The European Council is due to vote on Danish proposals on 14 October to mandate emailing and messaging services to install machine learning and scanning technology on mobile phones and computers to identify and report suspected child abuse images.
European Union (EU) member states are divided on the scheme, dubbed Chat Control, which has been widely criticised by cryptographers and security researchers who claim that mandatory scanning would create security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers and hostile nation states.
Signal’s vice-president for global affairs, Udbhav Tiwari, said that if the proposals became law they would introduce “massive glaring vulnerabilities” into operating systems used on phones and computers.
“Malicious actors will start using this capability to gain access that would simply be unthinkable for them under the current security paradigms of how operating systems have been implemented,” he said.
