It has recently become known: Members of the Swiss Army are prohibited from communicating with one another via the WhatsApp short messaging device while on duty. In the future, soldiers will chat via the Swiss app Threema, reports the «Daily indicator».
The reason for this: The data was no longer sufficiently secure with Messenger Whatsapp, which belongs to the US meta group. At Threema, the army itself explains, the data remained in Switzerland.
A turn that came as no surprise and almost a little late. After all, Whatsapp’s data protection construction sites have been known for a number of years.
Lucerne police rely on exclusive police messengers
The situation is a little different when it comes to means of communication at the security authorities in central Switzerland. For the Lucerne police, business communication via Whatsapp is generally not an issue. “The Lucerne police have various means of communication. In addition to fixed-line telephony, communication is carried out using mobile telephony, a police-specific messenger, ‘Instant Messenging Police’ (IMP) and email, ”explains Urs Wigger, media spokesman for the Lucerne police, when asked by Zentralplus.
This is a system that allows, similar to WhatsApp, to communicate with one another. “Polycom, that is, radio, also plays a central role in police operations,” says Wigger.
“Employees are forbidden by service orders to use other messengers than IMP for chats with sensitive, sensitive content.”
Urs Wigger, media spokesman for the Lucerne police
But to what extent is the IMP system better in terms of data protection than conventional communication services such as Whatsapp? Wigger explains: “IMP is a protected, police-specific system. The necessary infrastructure is operated within Switzerland and exclusively for the police in order to be able to give data protection the highest priority. “
Whatsapp is expressly forbidden
Apps like Whatsapp, Telegram or Signal, on the other hand, are taboo. “Employees are prohibited from using other messengers than IMP for chats with sensitive, sensitive content. For example, content with personal data or information relating to police tactics is to be viewed as sensitive and therefore worthy of protection, ”continues Wigger.
To ensure data protection is respected, the police count on the cooperation of their employees. For this purpose, according to Wigger, they are trained and sensitized accordingly. This should enable them to choose the right means of communication and thus to fulfill their responsibility as employees of the police force.
Data protection is already a topical issue with the security authorities. “In cooperation with the federal government, various national projects have been launched to make our communication more crisis-resistant and even more secure,” says Urs Wigger. Keywords for this are, for example, the Secure Data Network System (SDVS) or the Mobile Security Communication System (MSK). The spokesman for the Lucerne police describes these projects as groundbreaking for modernizing communication.
