End-to-End Encrypted Messaging App So Secure That Even Users Can't Read Their Own Messages

A startup messaging application called FortressChat has achieved what its developers describe as 'the theoretical pinnacle of communication security' after a software update rendered all messages unreadable to every party involved in a conversation, including the person who sent the message. The issue, which affected FortressChat's 340,000 users, stemmed from an update to the application's key exchange protocol that inadvertently encrypted messages using ephemeral keys that were destroyed before either party could use them to decrypt the content. 'From a security standpoint, this is flawless,' said FortressChat CEO Dmitri Cipherbloc. 'No attacker can read the messages. No government can subpoena the content. No metadata is accessible. The messages are perfectly, absolutely, unimpeachably secure. The only minor issue is that the people who sent and received the messages also can't read them.' Users began reporting the problem within hours of the update. Complaints included: 'My wife sent me a message and all I see is a gray box that says Message Encrypted,' 'I sent my boss an important update and it arrived as what appears to be a photograph of static,' and 'I can see that my mother has sent me seven messages. I cannot read any of them. Based on the frequency, I believe she is upset about something.' FortressChat's engineering team has acknowledged the bug but has been reluctant to patch it. 'If we decrypt the messages, we introduce a vulnerability,' said lead engineer Sasha Handshake. 'The current system is the most secure messaging platform ever built. It just doesn't do messaging.' The company's security page, which has been updated to reflect the situation, now reads: 'FortressChat: So secure, even you can't read it.' Competitor Signal has issued a statement noting that 'end-to-end encryption is supposed to have two ends,' and that 'a communication tool that prevents communication has solved a different problem than the one it was designed to solve.' FortressChat has lost approximately 280,000 users since the update. The remaining 60,000, Cipherbloc notes, are 'true believers in security who understand that the highest form of private communication is no communication at all.'