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When anti-ICE activists<\/span> rallied against the Trump administration\u2019s deportation campaign in Minneapolis, many relied on the encrypted messaging app Signal for secure communications. In activist chats and quickly established ICE-tracking groups, locals used Signal to keep tabs on federal agents patrolling their communities.<\/p>\n When the Department of Homeland Security announced<\/a> this week the arrest of 15 alleged \u201canti-ICE rioters\u201d in Minnesota, it pointed directly at their Signal chats.<\/p>\n The indictment<\/a> is in large part built upon on conversations from more than a dozen Signal groups, citing more than 100 specific messages. The case is a stark reminder that using an encrypted messaging platform like Signal is not in and of itself a magic bullet to safeguard communications. It also raises the question: How did Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s Homeland Security Investigations<\/a> unit gain access to all of these communications in the first place?<\/p>\n The indictment doesn\u2019t provide a clear answer. But sprinkled throughout the document are clues that suggest that law enforcement may have gained access to the physical devices of some of those indicted.<\/p>\n The indictment singles out its targets for their alleged participation in local ICE rapid response networks<\/a>, where volunteers monitor and report the presence<\/a> of federal agents in their communities by flagging details such as the license plate numbers<\/a> of vehicles used by immigration authorities. ICE watchers in Minnesota have been met with intimidation<\/a> from immigration authorities amid the national outcry following the killings of Alex Pretti<\/a> and Renee Good<\/a> as they observed the actions of immigration authorities.<\/p>\n The 15 people named in the latest indictment are all charged with \u201cconspiracy to impede or injure an officer,\u201d with some facing additional charges like \u201csolicitation to commit a crime of violence\u201d and \u201cdestruction of government property.\u201d Though some of the accused had court appearances<\/a> on Tuesday, their defense attorneys have not as of yet been named.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The indictment comes months after FBI Director Kash Patel said in a podcast interview<\/a> that federal law enforcement had started an investigation<\/a> into Minnesota ICE watchers using Signal groups to share information about immigration agents.<\/p>\n The bulk of the indictment consists of transcripts of group messages; at various points it also makes mention of voicemails, text messages, Signal direct messages, and Signal calls. For instance, the indictment in one spot mentions that two of the indictees \u201cexchanged approximately 20 connected Signal calls.\u201d This hints that authorities were able to access not just group chat messages, but likely had wholesale access to the devices of at least some of those indicted.<\/p>\n The Signal app provides end-to-end encryption<\/a>, protecting communications in transit, so that anyone monitoring your internet or cellular data connection cannot see the contents of your messages. Signal also minimizes the amount of metadata collected, so if the organization behind the app, the Signal Foundation, was served with a compulsory legal process<\/a> to reveal user information, it wouldn\u2019t even know with whom you spoke or chatted.<\/p>\n But all that falls apart if your device gets into the wrong hands. In order to safeguard your Signal data from someone who obtains access to your device, it\u2019s necessary to manually harden Signal by modifying some of its default settings.<\/p>\n