How the FBI Extracted Deleted Signal Messages From a Defendant's iPhone

You might have heard about Signal , the encrypted chat app the U.S. government infamously used to discuss war plans last year . (Yikes.) But while the app is no alternative to a dedicated SCIF, it is a good option for the rest of us to communicate more securely. Signal uses end-to-end encryption (E2EE), which, very simply, means that messages are "scrambled" in transit, and can only be "unscrambled" by the sender and the recipient or recipients. If you're in a Signal chat, you'll be able to read incoming messages just like you would any other chat app—if you're an attacker, and intercept that message, all you'll find is a jumble of code. E2EE makes it difficult for anyone without your unlocked device (or your unlocked Signal app) to read your Signal message—difficult, not impossible. That's part of the reason the chat app is no option for government officials (though no third-party chat app could be). But it's also a good reminder that no matter who you are, your secure chats are not impervious to outside forces. If someone wants to break into your chats, they might find a way to do so. The FBI recently recovered deleted Signal messages from an iPhone Case in point: As reported by 404 Media , the FBI recently extracted incoming Signal messages from a defendant's iPhone. The user had even deleted the app off their device, which only added another hurdle into the investigators' goals. You would think by deleting the app itself, your encrypted messages would be prote…