The encrypted messaging app Signal is getting some unexpected attention this week.
High-ranking officials in the Trump administration, including Vice President J. D. Vance and Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth, communicated the plans for an attack on the Yemeni Houthis via a potentially unauthorized group chat on Signal. However, Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added to the group chat, giving him access to these highly sensitive discussions, which he later published.
The Signal app itself did not malfunction or operate in an unintended way. Rather, it is user error to accidentally add a journalist to a chat about U.S. military plans — an error that government security protocols should be able to prevent if they’re actually followed.
When the Atlantic’s story broke on Monday, worldwide Signal downloads on iOS and Google Play were up 28% from the daily average over the last 30 days, per app intelligence firm Appfigures. In the U.S., downloads were up 45% on Monday, and in Yemen, they were up by 42%. Before the scandal, Signal was ranked No. 50 among social media apps in Yemen, but it climbed to No. 9 on Monday.
Signal did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
All communications on Signal are encrypted, meaning that only the people in a chat can see the texts — not even people who work at Signal can know what users are talking about. But Signal is intended to be a consumer product for secure messaging, not an iron-clad depository for government military plans.
Although Hegseth said that there were “no war plans” discussed in the Signal chat, the Atlantic published messages that show Hegseth providing details about the timing of attacks, as well as the weapons and aircrafts that would be used.
As of Thursday, the government continues to investigate this monumental security failure.
