The Signal Protocol: How Encryption for Billions Was Born

From Snowden’s revelations to WhatsApp’s billion-user moment, the Signal Protocol became the invisible backbone of modern encrypted communication. Can its nonprofit model survive?

In 2013, the foundations of the digital world shook. Edward Snowden’s disclosures revealed that governments—particularly the United States through the NSA—had been conducting mass surveillance on a scale far beyond what the public had imagined. Trust in traditional communications platforms faltered overnight. People began to ask whether any digital conv…