The Swiss army has banned foreign instant-messaging apps such as Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp and requires army members to use the locally-developed Threema messaging app instead. As Threema is a paid subscription communications service, the Swiss army promised to cover the annual subscription cost for all soldiers, which is roughly $4.40 per user.
Although the troops are expected to follow the official instruction, there are no current penalties if army members use foreign IM apps.
The open source client applications E2E encrypt all messages and files that are sent to other Threema users with their respective public keys. Once a message is delivered successfully, it is immediately deleted from the servers.
Swiss officials underlined the most important difference is that Threema isn’t subject to the U.S. Cloud Act, which was passed in 2018 “hidden” inside a budget spending bill. The controversial law lifts the need for securing a search warrant when a U.S. state agency needs to access and scrutinize someone’s online data.
#technology #switzerland #Threema #E2EE #security