About 48 hours after the US National Security Advisor was spotted using a weird cloned version of Signal, someone said they’d hacked it. It took them all of 15 minutes. We now know that TeleMessage is ‘cartoonishly hackable,’ but we still don’t know why top White House officials were using it. And what about the investigation to find out if this Israel-based app is bad on accident, or on purpose? I called up my friends Evan McMorris-Santoro of NOTUS and Joseph Cox of 404 Media to get some more context on how bad this might actually be.

Here’s the links promised in the episode:

Evan’s daily newsletter in NOTUS
Joseph’s article in 404 on the Telemessage hack
And here’s Micha Lee’s technical breakdown of Telemessage’s security problems

Our guests:
Evan McMorris-Santoro: @evanmcs.bsky.social
Joseph Cox: @josephcox.bsky.social

Got something you’re curious about? Hit up @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. See you on the next one.

About 48 hours after the US National Security Advisor was spotted using a weird cloned version of Signal, someone said they&rsquo;d hacked it. It took them all of 15 minutes. We now know that TeleMessage is &lsquo;cartoonishly hackable,&rsquo; but we still don&rsquo;t know why top White House officials were using it. And what about the investigation to find out if this Israel-based app is bad on accident, or on purpose? I called up my friends Evan McMorris-Santoro of NOTUS and Joseph Cox of 404 Media to get some more context on how bad this might actually be.
Here&rsquo;s the links promised in the episode:
<a href="https://www.notus.org/newsletters">Evan&rsquo;s daily newsletter in NOTUS</a> <a href="https://www.404media.co/the-signal-clone-the-trump-admin-uses-was-hacked/">Joseph&rsquo;s article in 404 on the Telemessage hack</a> And here&rsquo;s Micha Lee&rsquo;s <a href="https://micahflee.com/despite-misleading-marketing-israeli-company-telemessage-used-by-trump-officials-can-access-plaintext-chat-logs/">technical breakdown</a> of Telemessage&rsquo;s security problems
Our guests: Evan McMorris-Santoro: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/evanmcs.bsky.social">@evanmcs.bsky.social</a> Joseph Cox: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/josephcox.bsky.social">@josephcox.bsky.social</a>
Got something you&rsquo;re curious about? Hit up @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. See you on the next one.

Were we sleeping when everything changed? Seems like the technologically driven future is already here. On killswitch, we explain the right NOW of our super charged technological lives. New host Dexter Thomas answers questions big and small – like who’s behind Shrimp Jesus, and could you get arrested by a computer?

kill switch also brings the DIY back to tech – “How to Now” on everything from how to run your own LLM to tips to keep your data safe. Because the more “user-friendly” our devices get, the less we understand how they work, and the less control we have. We’re here to help you take back control. And if we can’t… Well, maybe we need to look for the kill switch.

 

Were we sleeping when everything changed? Seems like the technologically driven future is already here. On kill switch, we explain the right NOW of our super charged technological lives. New host <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dexdigi/?hl=en">Dexter Thomas</a> answers questions big and small &ndash; like who&rsquo;s behind Shrimp Jesus, and could you get arrested by a computer?
kill switch also brings the DIY back to tech &ndash; &ldquo;How to Now&rdquo; on everything from how to run your own LLM to tips to keep your data safe. Because the more &ldquo;user-friendly&rdquo; our devices get, the less we understand how they work, and the less control we have. We&rsquo;re here to help you take back control. And if we can&rsquo;t&hellip; Well, maybe we need to look for the kill switch.
&nbsp;

kill switch

Were we sleeping when everything changed? Seems like the technologically driven future is already here. On killswitch, we explain the right NOW of our super charged technological lives. New host Dexter Thomas answers questions big and small – like who’s behind Shrimp Jesus, and could you get arrested by a computer?

kill switch also brings the DIY back to tech – “How to Now” on everything from how to run your own LLM to tips to keep your data safe. Because the more “user-friendly” our devices get, the less we understand how they work, and the less control we have. We’re here to help you take back control. And if we can’t… Well, maybe we need to look for the kill switch.

Were we sleeping when everything changed? Seems like the technologically driven future is already here. On kill switch, we explain the right NOW of our super charged technological lives. New host <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dexdigi/?hl=en">Dexter Thomas</a> answers questions big and small &ndash; like who&rsquo;s behind Shrimp Jesus, and could you get arrested by a computer?
kill switch also brings the DIY back to tech &ndash; &ldquo;How to Now&rdquo; on everything from how to run your own LLM to tips to keep your data safe. Because the more &ldquo;user-friendly&rdquo; our devices get, the less we understand how they work, and the less control we have. We&rsquo;re here to help you take back control. And if we can&rsquo;t&hellip; Well, maybe we need to look for the kill switch.

why is the US gov using a ‘cartoonishly hackable’ messaging app?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/1fe05588-8668-4b9f-9d63-b2dd00dce6a8/transcript

Advertisement