this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2022
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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by jonesv@lemmy.ml to c/security@lemmy.ml
 

Users of the Signal messaging app got hit by a hacker attack. We analyze what happened and why the attack demonstrates that Signal is reliable.

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[–] jonesv@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

But probably those who made this attack were hackers, right? So "hit by a hacker attack" does not say that hackers are malicious, it's just a way of saying that it was an attack made with computers (and not with, say, fighter jets).

I don't think it's inaccurate or generalizing (hackers are not necessarily cybercriminals, and cybercriminals are not necessarily hackers, but cybercriminal who attack a computer system with a hack are indeed hackers). It's just a shortcut for "hit by an attack by cybercriminals who happen to be hackers, and used a skillset commonly attributed to hackers to execute their attack".

If that makes sense :)