A Third Party Breached the Intercept's Signal Tip Line
The Intercept disclosed that an unauthorized third party gained access to its Signal tip line account, compromising communications from sources. The breach was detected after unusual activity was noticed, and the organization is investigating the incident to assess the impact on source security.
Background
- **The Intercept** is an American nonprofit news outlet known for publishing leaks and national security stories, often sourced via whistleblowers. It was co-founded by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Jeremy Scahill.
- **Signal** is an encrypted messaging app widely used by journalists, activists, and sources because of its privacy and security features. A "tip line" is a dedicated Signal account that a newsroom advertises as a secure way for whistleblowers to submit tips.
- **Phishing attacks** are fake messages or login pages designed to trick people into revealing their passwords or credentials. In this case, someone tricked a third-party service into exposing The Intercept’s Signal tip line, meaning an external actor gained unauthorized access to the account.
- This matters because a successful compromise of a newsroom's tip line undermines the trust and safety that sources rely on to communicate securely with journalists, and raises questions about the security practices of both news outlets and their vendors.