Signal stopped responding to requests from Ukrainian law enforcement agencies - Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council

The messenger Signal has stopped responding to requests from Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. This was reported by the Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and head of the National Cybersecurity Coordination Center, Serhiy Demedyuk, who added that he does not want to blame Signal for this, as it, like Telegram, is an accomplice of the enemy, and noted that it may be a certain technical failure, reports UNN.

For a certain period, Ukrainians widely used Telegram, and this was a major threat because it was actually administered by a Russian, it was under the control of the Russian special services. It collected intelligence information and exerted informational influence, gathering information about the military 

Demedyuk noted that Telegram began cooperating with law enforcement agencies.

When we took certain measures to neutralize this threat, European partners helped, and the arrest of (Pavel – ed.) Durov in France changed this situation because Telegram began cooperating with law enforcement agencies, it started responding to threats. Therefore, they (the Russians – ed.) switched to another more popular messenger – Signal, which was used in Ukraine as an alternative, as a messenger created by our ally and partner. But after certain global changes that are currently happening in the world, Signal has stopped responding to requests from law enforcement agencies, and this has been ongoing until now. Signal is simply used as a communication channel 

He added that currently, while political changes are happening in the USA, Signal has stopped responding to requests from law enforcement agencies regarding certain information that Ukraine previously exchanged with Signal.

I do not want to blame Signal for being an accomplice of the enemy like Telegram, but by its inaction, it helps gather information, affect our soldiers, specialists, such as law enforcement special agencies, civil servants, personnel of critical information facilities. For us, joint interaction and response are important. I think this may be a certain technical failure. It is currently letting us down 

Demedyuk noted that this may be a temporary phenomenon.

It has stopped responding. Perhaps this is temporary. There are certain nuances; they cannot determine how to cooperate with us 

In response to the question about the situation with Instagram, WhatsApp, Viber, Demedyuk replied: "Here we have contacts, we cooperate."

Reference

Signal is a client application-messenger based on a cross-platform service for encrypted instant messaging, developed by Signal Foundation and Signal Messenger LLC. It uses the Internet to send individual and group messages that can contain files, voice notes, images, and videos. The service can also be used for making voice and video calls, and the Android version can additionally function as an SMS sending and receiving application.

Signal was developed by Moxie Marlinspike and his company Open Whisper Systems (OWS). Client applications are distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL v3). The server code is available under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL v3).

Supplement

The head of the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council, Andriy Kovalenko, reported that Ukraine has a permanent communication with the TikTok office. He is responsive and promptly blocks certain pages with Russian disinformation regarding Ukraine.

The National Security and Defense Council announced a ban on Telegram on the official devices of civil servants, military personnel, and critical infrastructure workers. The decision was made due to national security threats associated with the use of the messenger during the war.

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksandr Lytvynenko, stated that the decision of the National Cybersecurity Coordination Center (NCC) regarding the restriction of the use of the Telegram messenger does not apply to the official Telegram channels of state authorities.