eli5 How can intelligence agencies intercept traffic if its encrypted

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Hi,
I was reading [this](https://www.businessinsider.com/passenger-faces-120k-fines-after-fighter-jets-scrambled-for-bomb-joke-2024-1?amp) article, in which some kid made a joke about bombing the plane to his friend/s over snapchat just before boarding. The message was intercepted by the intelligence agencies and some response military planes were sent to intercept the plane.
So the assumption is that airport network traffic is heavy sniffed and analysed by local intelligence agencies but based on the following facts:
– snapchat is end to end encrypted
– traffic goes over HTTPS
– he sent the message to his friend/s who clearly didn’t report him for a prank

How was the intelligence agency able to figure out the content of the message?

In: Technology

8 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

This raises an essential point, Why do you trust Snapchat? When you say “snapchat is end to end encrypted”, what makes you think that? You most likely don’t have the source code for Snapchat or the computer science background to analyze it for security vulnerabilities – almost nobody does. Instead you think that because Snapchat told you. You choose to trust them.

That choice could be wrong. They might have done a sloppy job, or made a deal with the intelligence community, there is no way for you to know.

What’s a user to do? Trust nobody. Never text something you don’t want the government to know. Never take a picture you don’t want posted on the Internet. Store your secrets on paper in a fireproof metal box, not on some unauditable software tool running on a computer connected to the Internet.

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