Goldberg, stunned by the error, suddenly found himself in a conversation alongside key figures like Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The breach sent shockwaves through Washington, with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer calling it “one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence that I have read about in a very, very long time.”
The fiasco has reignited a long-standing debate: which messaging app is truly the most secure?
The Battle for Privacy: Signal vs. iMessage vs. WhatsApp
According to a report from UNILAD, tech expert Jason Aten stated that Signal remains the gold standard in secure messaging. The app is renowned for its end-to-end encryption and its strict privacy-first policies. Unlike Meta-owned WhatsApp, Signal does not collect metadata—meaning it cannot track who users are messaging, when, or how often. Signal’s president, Meredith Whittaker, reinforced this, calling the app “the gold standard in private comms.”
However, Trump himself took a different stance, bizarrely blaming Signal for the blunder and suggesting the app “could be defective.” But as experts point out, the real problem was not encryption—it was simple human error. For Apple users, iMessage is another strong contender for the title of the most secure messaging app. Apple’s 1:1 encryption model for group chats provides an additional layer of security beyond what Signal offers. However, its major limitation is exclusivity—iMessage is only fully secure when both parties use Apple devices. Messages sent between iPhones and Androids default to RCS or, worse, unencrypted SMS, making them vulnerable to interception.
Meta’s Messenger is adding end-to-end encryption but still lags behind Signal in security. While WhatsApp offers encryption, its metadata collection remains a concern for privacy advocates.
Telegram, Messenger, and WhatsApp: Are They Safe?
Telegram, a popular alternative, claims to offer security features, but experts warn that it does not enable end-to-end encryption by default. Only “Secret Chats” are protected, leaving regular messages susceptible to data breaches. Meanwhile, Meta’s Messenger is attempting to catch up by rolling out end-to-end encryption, but as of now, it still falls short of Signal’s level of security. WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, does offer end-to-end encryption, but the app collects metadata—something privacy advocates see as a major drawback.
iStockWhile encryption can safeguard messages from cyber threats, no app can prevent human mistakes like the one that led to this extraordinary government blunder.
No App Can Protect Against Human Error
While encryption can safeguard messages from cyber threats, no app can prevent human mistakes like the one that led to this extraordinary government blunder. As Aten points out, “It does not matter how private or secure the encryption is on a messaging platform—if you include someone in a group chat, they’re going to be able to read the message.”
In other words, even the most secure app in the world is useless if users aren’t careful about whom they’re messaging. As Washington scrambles to contain the fallout from this latest security lapse, one lesson is clear: the greatest risk to digital privacy isn’t necessarily hackers—it’s human error.