2023-12-04 14:15:00
FRANCE – Ministers and other members of government will no longer be able to use messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram. In a circular communicated by her services to other ministerial offices, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne mentions the “security flaws” of these applications and instructs her colleagues to replace them with the French messaging application Olvid. Members of the government have until December 8, 2023 to migrate to the French solution, which defines itself as “the most secure messaging in the world”. This circular comes a month and a half after the declaration of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who wants encrypted messaging applications to open a “back door” to his information.
In her instructions, Elisabeth Borne points out that the use of WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal “occupies a growing place in our communications”. To justify their abandonment in favor of Olvid, Matignon evokes two arguments. The first is linked to cybersecurity and the Prime Minister recalls that these very popular apps “are not without security vulnerabilities”. The second argument is that the French instant messaging application is “the only encrypted platform having received safety certification first level of the National Information Systems Security Agency (ANSSI)”, in 2020, two years after its launch.
Signal “not devoid of flaws”, its president does not appreciate
The circular, consulted by several media such as BFMTV et Pointexplains that “the integration of this solution constitutes not only a sign of awareness in terms of cybersecurity, but also a step towards greater French technological sovereignty”.
Available since the end of 2018 on Android and iOs (Apple), the Olvid instant messaging application is end-to-end encrypted, like WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram. But unlike these, Olvid does not require any SIM card, that is to say no telephone number, nor even an email, first name or date of birth.
The eponymous company, which talks about its “cryptographic protocols of unequaled power”, claims that its users’ exchanges “leave no digital trace”, not even metadata, information associated with messages such as the date, the type of device used or user information. One of its main innovations also lies in the removal of the centralized user directory.
The Matignon circular at the same time reminds that “the data is not stored on the central server. Consequently, it does not require particular security for so-called sensitive data.”
On the other hand, an application like WhatsApp, which certainly encrypts conversations end-to-end, retains the metadata in the data centers of the parent company Meta. In addition, messaging, which is free, collects a lot of personal data, such as the user’s geolocation, purchases made within discussions or especially the user’s contact book.
Signal offers similar features to Olvid such as minimizing metadata and deleting it, but requires the use of a phone number, therefore a centralized directory.
The president of the application also reacted to Borne’s circular, in an X post published on Thursday. “I am alarmed that [Le Premier ministre] cites ‘security flaws’ in Signal to justify this decision. This claim is not supported by any evidence and is dangerously misleading, particularly when it comes from a government,” écrit Meredith Whittaker. And added: “If you want to use a French product, go for it! But don’t spread false information (…) Signal is independently audited and our protocol has been tested for over 10 years.”
Darmanin wants a “back door” in encryption
While Matignon wants to secure the conversations of members of the government, Gérald Darmanin would rather reduce the security of applications like WhatsApp. In October, the Minister of the Interior, who intervened a few days after the attack in Arras which cost the life of Dominique Bernand, a French teacher, expressed his optimism in “being able to negotiate a back door” with messaging applications encrypted.
He notably mentioned Whatsapp and Signal, which would be used by terrorists and criminals to communicate. However, the basic principle of the end-to-end encryption protocol is to allow the two interlocutors to be the only people to access the content of the discussion. Gérald Darmanin thus regretted that the law does not require these companies to create a “back door”, that is to say a breach in the encryption at the request of a judge or a prefect.
“If we were able to say to WhatsApp, to Signal, to Telegram: ‘Give us this person’s conversation because they pose a threat,’ we would save a lot of time.”, he justifies. An “impossible” operation according to specialists, because a weakening of encryption would open a “back door” to the authorities as well as to malicious people or organizations.
Such a question is the subject of tensions between the Meta group and Western states, as United Kingdom. As for WhatsApp, many powers prohibit its use by members of their governments, like Russia, or restrict its access like ChinaIran and Turkey.
In March, members of the French government were already banned from installing and using certain applications. These include apps “recreational” like TikTok or Netflix. It remains to be seen whether the Olvid application is infallible. In the opinion of researchers, its limited use does not allow its reliability to be measured… But, is there software “free of security flaws”?
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