'Signal' for iOS Lets Users Make Encrypted Voice Calls for Free

lucascantor said:

Isn't FaceTime encrypted, or am I missing something here?

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Maybe, maybe not, it's routed through Apple's servers.

This on the other hand is advertised as a security solution - perhaps redundant but it explicitly states it is encrypted.

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oplix said:

Yea, remember how safe people thought Tor was? Then they found out the feds were actually targeting the people who used it.

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Funny how one arm of the government (NSA) was trying to hack TOR, while the other was contributing millions towards its development (DoD and State Department).

OtherJesus said:

Facebook and Google will be in a battle to buy this company.

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Apple is at the patent office as we speak.

I just noticed that the people on the contact's list in the article image are all anarchists. (Not the so called anarchists who are right wing *******s).

xero9 said:

I imagine an open source solution where the code can be audited is slightly more secure than a closed system?

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OpenSSL

/Micdrop

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robinbanks said:

Signal is the difference between "won't eavesdrop" and "can't eavesdrop." Apple's whitepaper on iMessage and FaceTime encrytption confirmed that, even though calls and messages are technically encrypted, Apple can selectively choose to intercept plaintext calls and messages if they wish. This is roughly similar to how a normal telco operates, and puts us in the position of having to trust Apple to behave appropriately.

Signal, in addition to being cross platform, moves the bar from "won't eavesdrop" to "can't eavesdrop." The Signal developers do not have the ability to selectively intercept calls, so we don't have to trust them.

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Actually, the very document you cited states under both iMessage and Facetime:

iMessage:
"Apple does not log messages or attachments, and their contents are protected by end-to-end encryption so no one but the sender and receiver can access them. Apple cannot decrypt the data."

Facetime:
"The audio/video contents of FaceTime calls are protected by end-to-end encryption, so no one but the sender and receiver can access them. Apple cannot decrypt the data."

See pages 20 and 21.

I read it differently!

robinbanks said:

Signal is the difference between "won't eavesdrop" and "can't eavesdrop." Apple's whitepaper on iMessage and FaceTime encrytption confirmed that, even though calls and messages are technically encrypted, Apple can selectively choose to intercept plaintext calls and messages if they wish. This is roughly similar to how a normal telco operates, and puts us in the position of having to trust Apple to behave appropriately.

Signal, in addition to being cross platform, moves the bar from "won't eavesdrop" to "can't eavesdrop." The Signal developers do not have the ability to selectively intercept calls, so we don't have to trust them.

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I'm not sure that I agree with your assessment of the iOS Security document. Here is a quote from the document that I think clearly states that Apple does not have the ability to decrypt your FaceTime calls. This is from page 21 of the document that you refer to.

"FaceTime is Apple’s video and audio calling service. Similar to iMessage, FaceTime calls also use the Apple Push Notification Service to establish an initial connection to the user’s registered devices. The audio/video contents of FaceTime calls are protected by end-to-end encryption, so no one but the sender and receiver can access them. Apple cannot decrypt the data. FaceTime uses Internet Connectivity Establishment (ICE) to establish a peer-to-peer connection between devices. Using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) messages, the devices verify their identity certificates and establish a shared secret for each session. The nonces supplied by each device are combined to salt keys for each of the media channels, which are streamed via Secure Real Time Protocol (SRTP) using AES-256 encryption."

I know that you stated plain text messages and calls but we are comparing encryption between Signal and FaceTime not unprotected data communications.

I'm sure terrorists and others everywhere (except the NSA - our interdiction people) will welcome this! Really smart! Let's also defeat airport metal/explosives detection with an App next! PRIVACY is so much more important than survival isn't it? ...