False: The CIA was able to break into Signal and WhatsApp

AP

Apps like Signal and WhatsApp are commonly cited as secure messaging apps, meaning the government, companies, or hackers can't intercept messages in transit and read them.

That's what security professionals call "end-to-end encryption."

If the CIA were able to break into Signal, as several outlets and commentators have claimed, that would be a big deal. Even WikiLeaks is phrasing its claims to make it sound as if this is the case.

The good news is that there is no evidence in the WikiLeaks dump that suggests the math that keeps messages secure — called "crypto" — that's behind either WhatsApp or Signal has been broken, as suggested by WikiLeaks.

Instead, the claim is more fundamental. If the CIA were able to hack into an end user's iPhone or Android device, then Signal's crypto wouldn't matter. The CIA would be able to read what users are seeing and sending before it was encrypted by the software.

If your computer or operating system, such as iOS, is already compromised, it doesn't matter how secure your messaging system is.

Basically, the CIA "has some expensive, targeted ways to hack phones, and if your phone is hacked, well, your apps won't save you," Zeynep Tufekci, a New York Times contributor and associate professor at the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science, told Business Insider.

"If someone is specifically targeted and their phone is running an older version and thus vulnerable to exploitation, no 'secure' apps can protect you because the OS itself is compromised," Will Strafach, the CEO of Sudo Security Group and a security professional with extensive experience in iOS exploits, told Business Insider.

—Open Whisper Systems (@whispersystems) March 7, 2017

Signal's underlying technology remains secure, it says.

"End-to-end encryption has pushed intelligence agencies away from undetected and unfettered mass surveillance to where they have to use high-risk and targeted attacks," Moxie Marlinspike, the creator of Signal, told New York magazine.

Strafach said, "WikiLeaks has an interest in getting big hype for their leaks, obviously, so it blurs what is and is not a concern."