UNITED STATES NEWS

Secure messaging arrives on Twitter – sort of. ‘Don’t trust it yet,’ Musk warns

May 11, 2023, 3:36 PM

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter launched encrypted messaging Wednesday, offering select users the ability to communicate more securely. But its new service is much more of a baby step than a giant leap forward.

For starters, it lacks basic protections that security experts consider essential for shielding messages from hackers and other prying eyes. Senders and receivers must also be subscribed to Twitter’s Blue service for $11 a month ($8 for desktop-only) or otherwise affiliated with an organization “verified” by Twitter for $1,000 a month plus $50 per user.

The company’s official message announcing the rollout promised additional features soon. But CEO Elon Musk offered his own caution via a tweet: “ Try it, but don’t trust it yet.

WHAT IS ENCRYPTED MESSAGING AGAIN?

Ordinary messages sent across the internet, whether by email, direct message, Twitter or other means — are generally vulnerable to interception that could allow other people or organizations to read them. That includes the companies offering the message services. Those companies can also be required to produce user messages in response to a legal subpoena or court order.

Encryption technology offers protection against spies and nosy online neighbors by encoding messages so that only the sender and the recipient can decipher them.

SO HOW DOES TWITTER’S NEW ENCRYPTION STACK UP?

Not super well. The gold standard in secure messaging is set by services such as Signal and ProtonMail, which use strong “end-to-end” encryption to shield messages so that no one else — not even the companies themselves — can read them.

Twitter’s service doesn’t currently do that. For the moment, its encrypted messages are vulnerable to a so-called “man-in-the-middle” attack that allows an attacker to insinuate themselves into an encrypted conversation to listen in and even modify messages as they’re sent. Twitter itself, in fact, has the ability to do this.

“The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday. But Twitter isn’t there yet.

Twitter also doesn’t offer any way to report encrypted messages for harassment or abuse, although it will be possible to block individual senders.

ARE THERE OTHER DRAWBACKS?

Yes. For instance, Twitter’s encrypted messages can only be sent to another individual. Twitter says it will “soon” be expanding encryption to groups. Encrypted messages are also limited to text and links; photos, video and other attachments aren’t supported yet, the company says.

Twitter encryption also doesn’t provide what’s called “forward secrecy,” which would prevent an attacker who gets hold of a user’s private key from using it to read earlier and subsequent messages.

In its official document, Twitter says forward secrecy techniques aren’t compatible with user expectations that they’ll always be able to obtain their historical messages from the cloud. As a result, the company doesn’t plan to offer forward secrecy at all.

A final issue: Users won’t have any way to make encrypted messages a default setting; they’ll have to deliberately choose encryption each time they start a new conversation.

United States News

FILE - Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, left, shakes hands with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng duri...

Associated Press

United States and China launch economic and financial working groups with aim of easing tensions

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department and China’s Ministry of Finance launched a pair of economic working groups on Friday in an effort to ease tensions and deepen ties between the nations. Led by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Vice Premier He Lifeng, the working groups will be divided into economic and financial segments. […]

58 minutes ago

Deb Libby, who poses in Worcester, Mass., on Aug. 21, 2023, has been on the state waitlist for publ...

Associated Press

Massachusetts has a huge waitlist for state-funded housing. So why are 2,300 units vacant?

Deb Libby is running out of time to find a place to live. Libby, 56, moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, four years ago, in part to be closer to the doctors treating her for pancreatic cancer. But the landlord wants her out by the end of the month and she can’t find anything else she can […]

3 hours ago

Associated Press

2 arrested in drive-by attack at New Mexico baseball stadium that killed 11-year-old boy

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Two people were arrested Thursday in connection with a shooting outside an Albuquerque baseball stadium that killed an 11-year-old boy and prompted the New Mexico governor to issue a controversial gun ban. Jose Romero, 22, and Nathen Garley, 21, were held for the Sept. 6 shooting after an Albuquerque Isotopes game […]

7 hours ago

Associated Press

Stock market today: Wall Street higher, but likely not enough to this turn losing week into a winner

Wall Street ticked modestly higher early Friday, but not nearly enough to erase a week of losses driven by the potential for an era of consistently higher interest rates. Futures for the S&P 500 edged 0.2% higher while the Dow Jones industrials rose just 0.1%. Markets are poised to finish the week with significant losses […]

7 hours ago

Associated Press

Some crossings on US-Mexico border still shut as cities, agents confront rise in migrant arrivals

EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — The week began in Eagle Pass with rumors that large crowds of migrants might show up. On Friday, the small Texas border city was scrambling: nearly 9,000 asylum-seekers and counting had crossed from Mexico, an international bridge remained closed and a 3-year-old boy had drowned in the Rio Grande. “Before […]

8 hours ago

In a frame grab from video, Kyan Bovee flies over Detroit, Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023. The Detroit teen...

Associated Press

Black teens learn to fly and aim for careers in aviation in the footsteps of Tuskegee Airmen

DETROIT (AP) — Marie Ronny and Kyan Bovee expect their futures to take off. Literally. The Black teens from Detroit are part of a free program teaching young people how to fly, while exposing them to careers in aviation, an industry in which people of color are traditionally underrepresented. Their classrooms are the skies above […]

8 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

Sanderson Ford...

Sanderson Ford

Sanderson Ford congratulates D-backs’ on drive to great first half of 2023

The Arizona Diamondbacks just completed a red-hot first half of the major league season, and Sanderson Ford wants to send its congratulations to the ballclub.

...

re:vitalize

When most diets fail, re:vitalize makes a difference that shows

Staying healthy and losing weight are things many people in Arizona are conscious of, especially during the summer.

...

Mayo Clinic

Game on! Expert sports physicals focused on you

With tryouts quickly approaching, now is the time for parents to schedule physicals for their student-athlete. The Arizona Interscholastic Association requires that all student-athletes must have a physical exam completed before participating in team practices or competition.

Secure messaging arrives on Twitter – sort of. ‘Don’t trust it yet,’ Musk warns