Biden-era guidance encouraged use of Signal app by highly-targeted govt officials: 'Best practice'

A Biden-era Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) best guidance document shows highly-targeted government employees were encouraged to use Signal.

Under the Biden administration in 2024, CISA released a "Mobile Communications Best Practice Guidance" for "highly targeted individuals," who were defined as high-ranking government officials or politicians who are "likely to possess information of interest to these threat actors." The document specifically addressed high-targeted politicos and officials, though it noted the guide was "applicable to all audiences." 

"CISA strongly urges highly targeted individuals to immediately review and apply the best practices below to protect mobile communications. Highly targeted individuals should assume that all communications between mobile devices – including government and personal devices – and internet services are at risk of interception or manipulation. While no single solution eliminates all risks, implementing these best practices significantly enhances protection of sensitive communications against government-affiliated and other malicious cyber actors," the guide reads. 

The document, published in December, details that highly-targeted government officials should use "end-to-end encrypted communications" as part of its "best practices" advice. End-to-end encryption is understood as a secure method of communication, where a sender's message is encrypted and can only be decrypted by the recipient of the message.