Let me get this straight...

[wdormann@infosec.exchange]

Let me get this straight...

The default setting for Signal on an iPhone allows law enforcement to see the content of all incoming messages, even after the app has been deleted?

FBI Extracts Suspect’s Deleted Signal Messages Saved in iPhone Notification Database

The case was the first time authorities charged people for alleged “Antifa” activities after President Trump designated the umbrella term a terrorist organization.

404 Media (www.404media.co)

[bsod@framapiaf.org]

@wdormann how the FBI could access the device notifications database?

[marypcbuk@hachyderm.io]

@wdormann I mean, before 2025 did the average mainstream user have the US government in their threat model?

[wdormann@infosec.exchange]

@bsod
They had access to an unlocked device.

Unclear whether that was voluntary, through coercion, or through trickery like Cellebrite advertises.

[bsod@framapiaf.org]

@wdormann ok ... I wonder if changing this option would make any difference unless notifications are fully disabled

[wdormann@infosec.exchange]

@omnicore @signalapp
Yeah, I've been on Lockdown Mode since it was released.

Do you have a reference for how this is the case?

[avuko@infosec.exchange]

@wdormann The default setting for the iPhone by the US company Apple is to pass messages through to their Notification functionality.

They could be retrieved by the FBI from the US company Apple's push notification database.

The US company Apple, not Signal, has a shoddy security model here.

PS: To any Apple fanboys who can't stand a single bad word about Apple, I'll block you permanently and happily if you even give a squeak.

#Apple #Signal #FBI #Fascism

[beachbum@mastodon.sdf.org]

@avuko @wdormann I have Alerts for almost all of my apps turned off. I only have them on for find my phone and emergency, Public Safety and Amber Alerts. Do I need to turn those off also?

[wdormann@infosec.exchange]

@Mer__edith
Can we get a comment on this?

1) The default Signal setting to show message contents in push notifications seems... bad, assuming this article is accurate.
2) Does changing the in-Signal-app setting for Notification Content indeed prevent notifications from being stored anywhere, which by default contains incoming message bodies.

[wdormann@infosec.exchange]

@omnicore @signalapp
Regardless, even just testing things out on a clean test device, an iPhone with Lockdown Mode enabled still gets push notifications with the incoming message body.

So, color me skeptical that Lockdown Mode does anything regarding this.

[avuko@infosec.exchange]

@Beachbum @wdormann if you do not want to be tracked/traced/placed, don’t bring a mobile phone in any way tied to you or your previous locations.

I worked in telco for years, trust me on this one.

The problem here was different: people who thought they were communicating privately, had their messages (or those that ended up in Apple’s notifications database on the iPhone) accessible to law enforcement. Even after (taking precautions like) deleting the app.

[awkwardturing@infosec.exchange]

@wdormann what does that mean for any other app that pushes sensitive data as notifications? Wondering if disabling the notification rly disables the storing in the DB or just the display of it.

[wdormann@infosec.exchange]

@AwkwardTuring
Right. That's the million dollar question.

[grammasaurus@mastodon.social]

@omnicore @wdormann @signalapp What I got from the article is what you said here: the weakness is in iPhone’s default behavior.

[cppguy@infosec.space]

@avuko @wdormann

Oh, but it's even worse than that. From TFA:

Authorities have turned to push notifications more broadly as an investigative strategy too; in June 404 Media reported Apple gave governments data on thousands of push notifications. Those were legal demands made to Apple, while the Prairieland case was about data from a device authorities had physical access to.

This suggests that your #notifications are sent home to #Apple. Why is that necessary?

I have further questions:

• Why, and for whose benefit, were notifications stored on the phone after the #Signal app had been removed? They were useless to the other of the phone.
• How much of this vulnerability is shared with Android phones?

[tdpsk@sueden.social]

@wdormann @Mer__edith I was unaware notifications on iOS were stored in an on-device database even after they had been dismissed. That seems like an inefficient waste of storage - does anybody have a link to some Apple docs providing context about this database?

[beachbum@mastodon.sdf.org]

@avuko @wdormann That’s partly why I’m asking because I disable notifications as soon as I purchase a phone. Locating my phone is important because I misplace it a lot. My location services it’s also always off.
I have a degree in IT, but it goes back to 2006 and so much has changed since then and honestly, I only keep up through what I read here on Mastodon. I thought doing these things would secure my privacy.

[beachbum@mastodon.sdf.org]

@avuko @wdormann I was rather shocked that this could even be possible yet actually occurring.

[prism@infosec.exchange]

@wdormann The default setting is that you get notified when you receive a message, because most people want those.

[craignicol@glasgow.social]

@wdormann @mastodonmigration eh what?

On Android it just shows "you have a new message". Was this an Apple or a Signal decision?