September 26, 2022
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0A Huge Signal Leak: 1,900 user numbers “leaked” to the network
Representatives of the Signal messenger recently made a statement. It touched on unpleasant news: the phone numbers of almost 2,000 users leaked to the network.
Hackers were able to bypass the security system and gained access not only to phone numbers but also to SMS verification codes of users.
This was the result of hacking a service that provides messenger services for checking phone numbers.
In the article, we will tell you more.
Find out more about Signal privacy here.
What happened?
From the statement, it became clear that the data leak occurred due to the hacking of the Twilio portal, which provided phone number checking services to Signal. According to the portal itself, their database was indeed hacked last month. As a result, about 125 companies that are Twilio customers were compromised, including Signal.
However, the company did not specify the exact number of users affected by the data leak. It is estimated that the number of victims may reach hundreds of thousands. By the way, the list of Twilio’s clients includes such techno giants as Facebook and Uber, as well as Signal.
What did the company say?
According to the assurances of Signal management, apart from the phone numbers of customers themselves, the attackers failed to steal anything else. All other confidential information remained safe.
“All users can be sure that their message history, contact lists, profile information, who they have blocked, and other personal data remain confidential,” Signal said in a statement.
In addition, Signal warned its customers about the leak and sent an SMS to all affected customers to invite them to re-register their accounts.
Also, the messenger cancelled the registration for all compromised numbers. Contact lists and other profile information can be restored using the Signal PIN code.
Signal comparison with popular messengers here.
What is the best alternative to Signal?
After such news about a data leak, you may begin to think about whether you need to change your messenger.
Despite the huge competition in the market, many messengers cannot provide a decent level of security for their users.
We have already written about the insecurity of WhatsApp here.
Even the once sensational Telegram, whose management assured everyone that it does not cooperate with the state and does not disclose the personal data of users, is not secure.
You can read here about the Telegram fails.
As a reliable, secure, and free alternative to popular messengers, you can consider Utopia P2P — a new generation, decentralized ecosystem that provides its users with a place for anonymous communication, data transfer, information search, and much more.
There is no censorship, surveillance, data leaks, or ads — only anonymous registration and use. Each user is protected by multi-level encryption, and there is no single server for data storage — each user has their own crypto container.
Read more about Utopia P2P here.
