Recent years have seen a step-change in French government operations. An unprecedented modernisation agenda has created new ways of working for officials and civil servants alike.
As part of a drive for more efficient and effective collaboration, the Interdepartmental Digital Directorate (DINUM) set out in late 2017 to develop a secure messaging service for members of the government to communicate safely.
Mainstream messaging applications, such as Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp, were not deemed suitable for a government-wide messaging solution. These centralised, proprietary apps would keep French government data within their own systems.
They offer little transparency, says Jrme Ploquin, project director at the State Digital Directorate, Prime Ministers Services.
We didnt know about what backdoors might be in place. We couldnt be sure about the quality of the end-to-end encryption, nor audit the solutions. Data would be off our own servers, and probably out of the country. The Patriot Act creates ambiguity, and the providers business models were not suitable for government use. We saw them as consumer-grade solutions.
DINUM, in partnership with Frances National Agency for Information System Security (ANSSI), scoured the world for potential solutions. Ownership and digital sovereignty topped the list of daunting selection criteria. Confidentiality and security were also critical, as was usability for a system that would be used by the countrys highest officials and hundreds of thousands of civil servants. For a system that would need to scale across Frances entire civil service and eventually its respective ecosystems, it also had to be open, interoperable and support a huge number of users.
Although DINUM wasnt looking for an open source solution specifically, it discovered Matrix; a decentralised communication protocol developed with interoperability and privacy in mind. Element, whose founders also lead the open source Matrix project, helped DINUM deploy the Matrix-based Tchap solution.
Matrix is an open network for secure, decentralised communication. It is the foundation for a completely different approach to real time collaboration.
Being decentralised enables people and organisations to host their own conversations; keeping data within their control (via on-premise hardware, private cloud, or cloud provider) rather than being stored by the service provider. That instantly delivered Tchaps need for ownership and data sovereignty.
An open protocol, Matrix-based systems interoperate seamlessly. That gave Tchap the ability to federate across every organisation within the French public sector. Each organisation can simply be added to the solution, and instantly be able to easily communicate and collaborate with other departments. Scalability and interoperability were clearly addressed by Matrix.
Matrix also supports genuine end-to-end encryption meaning that messages can only be decrypted by the people participating in the conversation based on the Double Ratchet Algorithm, open sourced, and subject to cryptographic review by NCC Group. That gave Tchap the assurances it was looking for around security.
Despite Matrix being a relatively new protocol, it was technically advanced and had a large, active open source community. It was proven, and really quite mature, says Ploquin.
The flagship client app, Element, was still very new and we decided to use that as a base for our client app across Android, iOS and web, explains Ploquin.
We wanted to reflect the French governments colours in the user interface and simplify some aspects to tailor it for widespread use across a collection of organisations with potentially over five million people. We also wanted an antivirus to protect against external threats.
Tchap Agent went live in April 2019 and was rolled out across all ministries. By March 2020 Tchap had around 80,000 daily active users, making it one of the worlds largest deployments of a collaboration tool; the sheer size of the user base reflecting just how many different organisations the Matrix-based solution was able to support.
Within weeks, the user base doubled to 160,000 as the coronavirus pandemic saw the vast majority of Frances civil service switch to home-based working. Tchap scaled easily, and enabled Frances public sector to adjust quickly to an unprecedented new normal.
Tchap is an excellent example of what we describe as universal secure collaboration, explains Elements co-founder and chief operating officer, Amandine Le Pape.
Universal means that it is open, and therefore easy to federate across different organisations. Any Matrix-based client is instantly interoperable with it, and it can also be bridged into other open protocols like IRC, or into proprietary systems such as Slack.
It takes a completely different approach to the vast majority of messaging and collaboration; self-hosting data, decentralisation, end-to-end encryption and cross-signing to verify participants as well as supporting the usual protections such as anti-virus.
And, more than just a messenger, it is a complete collaboration tool that allows secure file sharing, screen sharing and all types of possibilities around integrations and connectivity.
Tchap has enjoyed positive feedback as it has rolled out across the public sector, with over 80 per cent of users saying it has delivered big benefits. Like any project, particularly for a public one of this size, there have been twists and turns, says Ploquin. We had teething troubles, a security scare, and the inevitable changes in requirements.
We also scaled from 80,000 to 160,000 daily active users almost overnight, and have seen people adopt and adapt Tchap in the most delightful of ways. Human beings are at their best when they communicate, and Tchap allows them to do that in new and previously unthinkable ways.
The G7 in Biarritz, for example, in August 2019, was an early demonstration of Tchap being used to manage a high-security event. It is now routine for the emergency services to coordinate through Tchap to ensure more effective working in response situations.
The impact of Tchap bringing together communities of people with shared goals is perhaps the most satisfying thing for Ploquin:
Were seeing people from a wide range of organisations participate in rooms dedicated to particular topics; from our ambassadors in Africa coordinating their response to the pandemic, to best practice discussions around challenges such as cybercrime. People are proactively sharing their knowledge, helping everyone to improve what they do.
Tchaps rollout continues, with the current focus on the regions, and Frances principalities. That will take Tchaps user base to around 300,000 people, although there is little to stop the system being adopted right across Frances public sector.
Although Tchap is already a huge deployment, in many ways were just getting started. We want to encourage Tchap users to innovate with how they use the platform. From hospitals to education, we imagine enabling all sorts of new uses as people better understand the power and flexibility that Tchap offers.
Read the original here:
Inside the French governments mission to develop an encrypted messaging platform - NS Tech
- All About Encryption Backdoors - Hashed Out by The SSL Store - Hashed Out by The SSL Store - January 25th, 2021
- Global Database Encryption Market Snapshot Analysis and Increasing Growth Demand by Forecast To 2025 The Courier - The Courier - January 25th, 2021
- Hardware Encryption Market worth $313 million by 2025 - Exclusive Report by MarketsandMarkets - PRNewswire - January 25th, 2021
- Encryption Software Market to Reach USD 24.94 billion by 2027; Surging Cyber Security Threats to Improve Sales Prospects, states Fortune Business... - January 25th, 2021
- Facebook has accepted that encryption will damage the child protection program from its platform - Digital Information World - January 25th, 2021
- Facebook admits encryption will harm efforts to prevent child exploitation - The Guardian - January 25th, 2021
- Disk Encryption Market Analysis And Demand With Forecast Overview To 2027 - KSU | The Sentinel Newspaper - January 25th, 2021
- Following a Year of Privacy Worries and Security Breaches, Ring Implements End-to-End Encryption - CPO Magazine - January 25th, 2021
- Encryption Key Management Market 2021 to Perceive Biggest Trend and Opportunity by 2028 - KSU | The Sentinel Newspaper - January 25th, 2021
- Outlook on the Endpoint Encryption Market to 2025 by Application, End-user an - Business-newsupdate.com - January 25th, 2021
- Covid-19 Positive Impact on Encryption Software Market 2021-2027 |Gemalto (Amsterdam,Netherlands), Symantec (California,US), Dell (Texas,US), Sophos... - January 25th, 2021
- Ring adds end-to-end video encryption to its doorbells and security cameras at CES 2021 - CNET - January 14th, 2021
- Encrypted Phones iPhone and Android Encryption - Reader's Digest - January 14th, 2021
- Millions Flock to Telegram and Signal as Fears Grow Over Big Tech - The New York Times - January 14th, 2021
- Signal, the encrypted messaging app and WhatsApp alternative, explained - Vox.com - January 14th, 2021
- Heres why Telegram does not offer end-to-end encryption by default - The Indian Express - January 14th, 2021
- Mobile Encryption Market Structure, Industry Inspection, and Forecast 2025 - Business-newsupdate.com - January 14th, 2021
- Comprehensive Report on Email Encryption Market 2020 | Size, Growth, Demand, Opportunities & Forecast To 2030 - KSU | The Sentinel Newspaper - January 14th, 2021
- The World's Only Processor Family with Full Memory Encryption* - PCWorld - January 14th, 2021
- What is Signal? The basics of the most secure messaging app. - Mashable - January 14th, 2021
- WhatsApp chats are encrypted so how will Facebook use chat data for ads? This is how - India Today - January 14th, 2021
- Encryption Software Market Current and Future Industry Trends, 2020-2025 - AlgosOnline - January 14th, 2021
- What Is Signal, and Why Is Everyone Using It? - How-To Geek - January 14th, 2021
- Data Encryption Market Analysis and In-depth Research on Size, Trends, Emerging Growth Factors and Forecasts 2026 - Murphy's Hockey Law - January 14th, 2021
- Elon Musk says to use Signal instead of Facebook. What to know about the messaging app - CNET - January 10th, 2021
- Global Document Encryption Software Market 2020 Industry Analysis, Key Drivers, Business Strategy, Opportunities and Forecast to 2025 The Sentinel... - January 10th, 2021
- Encryption Software Market Segmentation and Analysis by Recent Trends, Development and Growth by Regions to 2026 - Farming Sector - January 10th, 2021
- Homomorphic Encryption Market 2020 | COVID-19 Impact With Top Key Players, Trends, Overview, Insights And Outlook 2027 : Cosmian, CryptoExperts,... - January 10th, 2021
- Global Email Encryption Market Expected to reach highest CAGR by 2025 : Hewlett-Packard, Symantec Corporation, Cisco Systems, Mcafee (Intel), Trend... - January 10th, 2021
- Homomorhpic Encryption Market Latest Innovations, Analysis, Business Opportunities, Overview, Component, Industry Revenue and Forecast - LionLowdown - January 10th, 2021
- Homomorphic Encryption Market Forecast 2021-2027, Latest Trends and Opportunities|Microsoft (US), IBM Corporation (US), Galois Inc (US) - Farming... - January 10th, 2021
- Are We Heading Towards EU Legislation Banning End-to-End Encryption? - Lexology - December 29th, 2020
- Encryption Software Market Trending Technologies, Industry Growth, Share, Opportunities, Developments And Forecast - LionLowdown - December 29th, 2020
- Signals famous encryption may have been cracked - TechRadar - December 29th, 2020
- AES Encryption Software Market 2021: Comprehensive Analysis and Growth Forecast - NeighborWebSJ - December 29th, 2020
- Encryption, zero trust and the quantum threat security predictions for 2021 - BetaNews - December 29th, 2020
- Encryption Software Market By Business Analysis, Industry Types, Demand, Capacity, Applications, Services, Innovations and Forecast 2025 - Farming... - December 29th, 2020
- Encryption Software Market Size 2020 by Top Key Players, Global Trend, Types, Applications, Regional Demand, Forecast to 2027 - LionLowdown - December 29th, 2020
- How to Securely Send Sensitive Information over the Internet - TechBullion - December 29th, 2020
- In 2020, Congress Threatened Our Speech and Security With the EARN IT Act - EFF - December 29th, 2020
- Encryption Key Management Market Key Trends and how do they Impact the Specific Regions - NeighborWebSJ - December 29th, 2020
- The ACLU Is Suing For Info On The FBI's Encryption Breaking Capabilities - Gizmodo - December 29th, 2020
- Encrypting data is the key to a peaceful New Year (Includes interview) - Digital Journal - December 29th, 2020
- Proton's Calendar Platform With End-to-End Encryption Now Available as an Android App - News18 - December 29th, 2020
- Encryption Software Market 2020: COVID19 Impact on Industry Growth, Trends, Top Manufacturer, Regional Analysis and Forecast to 2027 - The Monitor - December 29th, 2020
- The Same U.S. Government That Wants To Weaken Our Encryption Just Got Massively Hacked - Reason - December 15th, 2020
- How to Enable End-to-End Encryption in Google Messages - Lifehacker - December 15th, 2020
- Ransomware gangs are getting faster at encrypting networks. That will make them harder to stop - ZDNet - December 15th, 2020
- UK has not ordered 'backdoor access' to WhatsApp messages - but could issue injunction against Facebook's encryption plans - Sky News - December 15th, 2020
- From the bottom of the sea rose a piece of encrypted history. What were the Nazi Enigmas? - The Indian Express - December 15th, 2020
- Global Cloud Encryption Software Market To Witness Huge Gains Over 2020-2026 - The Courier - December 15th, 2020
- Google Messages End-to-End Encryption Guide: How It Works on Android - Tech Times - December 15th, 2020
- Facebooks encryption could prevent MI5 and police from stopping terror attacks and child abuse - Telegraph.co.uk - December 15th, 2020
- S'pore seizes $5.3m in illicit funds linked to Canadian network used by crime syndicates - The Straits Times - December 15th, 2020
- Encrypted messaging could increase child abuse cases, report warns - E&T Magazine - December 9th, 2020
- A Balanced DNS Information Protection Strategy: Minimize at Root, TLD; Encrypt When Needed Elsewhere - CircleID - December 9th, 2020
- Protecting consumer data is leading driver for encryption in Middle East: report - Gulf Business - December 9th, 2020
- Insights on the Cloud Encryption Software Market 2020-2024: COVID-19 Industry Analysis, Market Trends, Market Growth, Opportunities and Forecast 2024... - December 9th, 2020
- Commercial Encryption Software Market Trends, Growth, Analysis, Opportunities and Overview by 2026 - Murphy's Hockey Law - December 9th, 2020
- Does opening a 'back door' to encrypted communications create a whole new raft of problems? How can firms promise privacy if there is official access?... - December 9th, 2020
- Enigma encryption machine used by Nazis in World War II found on bottom of ocean - ABC News - December 9th, 2020
- Encryption Software Market 2020 | Latest Trend, Swot Analysis, Covid-19 Impact And Forecast - The Haitian-Caribbean News Network - December 9th, 2020
- Data Encryption Market Size with Business Opportunity, Challenges, Standardization, Competitive Intelligence and Regional Analysis - The... - December 9th, 2020
- COVID-19 Update: Global Encryption Software Market is Expected to Grow at a Healthy CAGR with Top players: Dell , Eset , Gemalto , IBM , Mcafee , etc.... - December 9th, 2020
- SSL-based threats remain prevalent and are becoming increasingly sophisticated. - The CyberWire - December 9th, 2020
- What Is the Signal Encryption Protocol? - WIRED - November 30th, 2020
- Data Protection | The Pros and Cons of End-to-End Encryption - DIGIT.FYI - November 30th, 2020
- Encryption Software Market Overview, Growth, Types, Applications, Dynamics, Companies, Regions, & Forecast to 2026 - The Haitian-Caribbean News... - November 30th, 2020
- Encryption Software Market to Witness Astonishing Growth by 2027 | Dell , Eset , Gemalto and more - Cheshire Media - November 30th, 2020
- EU targets end-to-end encryption tools after rise in terror attacks - DIGIT.FYI - November 30th, 2020
- European Legislators Move to Eliminate End-to-End Encryption in Messaging Services Following Terror Attacks - Digital Information World - November 30th, 2020
- Facebook urged to end encryption to help cops stop paedophiles using app - The Sun - November 30th, 2020
- Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption Market Size, Key Manufacturers, Demand, Application And Opportunities By 2027 - The Haitian-Caribbean News Network - November 30th, 2020
- The tech and security backends that keep your data safe - Business MattersBusiness Matters - November 30th, 2020
- Encryption Software Market Expected to Boost the Global Industry Growth in the Near Future - Cheshire Media - November 30th, 2020
- Commercial Encryption Software Market Will Generate Record Revenue by 2025 - The Haitian-Caribbean News Network - November 30th, 2020
- Symmetric Encryption Algorithms: Live Long & Encrypt - Hashed Out by The SSL Store - Hashed Out by The SSL Store - November 24th, 2020
- Google plans to test end-to-end encryption in Android messages - TechCrunch - November 24th, 2020
- Google Messages Set to Roll Out End-to-End Encryption - Infosecurity Magazine - November 24th, 2020
- Did they crack the code? The importance of encryption for protest movements - OpenGlobalRights - November 24th, 2020
Recent Comments