Signal - Inviolable App or Promised Land for Criminals?

In the "Weekly News" series of prominent news about online fraud in the past week (from December 30, 2024 to January 5, 2024), the Information Security Department (Ministry of Information and Communications) said that cybersecurity experts recently issued a warning regarding a fraud campaign on the free and 2-way encrypted messaging and calling platform - Signal.

Accordingly, a clear trend is that many scammers operating from 'scam farms' in the Southeast Asia region, are switching from Telegram to Signal as their primary scam communication platform.

Common scams include: fake financial investment platforms, romance scams, and impersonating others; sending links containing malicious code to scam…

Signal messaging app

According to Kelacyber, Telegram recently created a wave of reactions when it updated its new privacy policy. Specifically, this messaging platform was previously known for its hands-off approach to censorship but now can share users' phone numbers and IP addresses with law enforcement agencies under court orders. This causes "insecurity" for scammers and hackers because the possibility of information disclosure is higher than before.

Hacker groups like Ghosts of Palestine have publicly announced their intention to leave Telegram and seek more privacy-focused platforms. Another hacker group, Al Ahad, has moved to Signal and promised to shut down its Telegram channel.

Telegram is considered a stronghold of cybercriminals globally but now, with policy changes, they have shifted to Discord and Signal platforms, of which Signal is the most used by cybercriminals due to its security.

According to MoonLock, Signal is a private messaging platform that uses end-to-end encryption and has the highest level of security available today. Even Signal's system cannot read messages or listen to users' calls. Therefore, cybercriminals gradually prefer to carry out scams.

The app is owned by the Signal Foundation — a non-profit founded in 2018 by Moxie Marlinspike and WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton.

Signal started gaining popularity in 2021 and has over 40 million users.

Signal and Telegram both offer private messaging, group chats, video calls, and voice calls.

Signal does not collect any data from users except for their phone numbers. Telegram, on the other hand, collects their phone numbers, contacts, and IP addresses, potentially exposing their data.

Signal also offers 'self-destructing messages' for all chats, adding extra security for users, while Telegram only offers that feature for secret chats.

It is worth mentioning that some messages and calls are private but can be eavesdropped, including by Telegram employees, government agencies. Therefore, Telegram is no longer the safest application, so bad guys choose another application, Signal.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 10 February 2025