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why is the US gov using a ‘cartoonishly hackable’ messaging app?

EPISODE · May 14, 2025 · 37 MIN

why is the US gov using a ‘cartoonishly hackable’ messaging app?

from kill switch · host Kaleidoscope

About 48 hours after the US National Security Advisor was spotted using a weird cloned version of Signal, someone said they’d hacked it. It took them all of 15 minutes. We now know that TeleMessage is ‘cartoonishly hackable,’ but we still don’t know why top White House officials were using it. And what about the investigation to find out if this Israel-based app is bad on accident, or on purpose? I called up my friends Evan McMorris-Santoro of NOTUS and Joseph Cox of 404 Media to get some more context on how bad this might actually be. Here’s the links promised in the episode: Evan’s daily newsletter in NOTUSJoseph’s article in 404 on the Telemessage hackAnd here’s Micha Lee’s technical breakdown of Telemessage’s security problems Our guests:Evan McMorris-Santoro: @evanmcs.bsky.socialJoseph Cox: @josephcox.bsky.social Got something you’re curious about? Hit up @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. See you on the next one.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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why is the US gov using a ‘cartoonishly hackable’ messaging app?

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How long is this episode of kill switch?

This episode is 37 minutes long.

When was this kill switch episode published?

This episode was published on May 14, 2025.

What is this episode about?

About 48 hours after the US National Security Advisor was spotted using a weird cloned version of Signal, someone said they’d hacked it. It took them all of 15 minutes. We now know that TeleMessage is ‘cartoonishly hackable,’ but we still don’t know...

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Yes, a full transcript is available for this episode. You can read the complete transcript on the episode page.

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