The Preventable Signal Controversy in the United States Government

Genasys CONNECT offers a fully compliant and more secure collaboration and communication platform for government and law enforcement use

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Genasys Inc. (NASDAQ: GNSS), the global leader in Protective Communications, today addresses the Signal app controversy within the Executive branch of the federal government. The media stories, interviews, and of course, the politics regarding the use of Signal messaging have dominated headlines over the past several days. United States intelligence and military leaders used the Signal app and included a journalist, in what was supposed to be a closed, secure communications channel prompting numerous questions, including how could this possibly happen? Contrary to uninformed pundits, existing solutions at Genasys make this situation, and countless others involving agencies and government departments, preventable.

Jeff Halstead, Genasys Senior Director of Strategic Accounts and former Chief of Police in Fort Worth, Texas, and other cities, is the founder of Evertel (now Genasys CONNECT). Chief Halstead stated, “Eight years ago, after a 30-year career in law enforcement, I partnered with a few brilliant technology engineers and created the most secure, transparent, and highly accountable communications platform for public safety and government. Our goal was to create the most secure and powerful communications platform and increase the transparency and accountability of police agencies and government. We are unmatched in this industry and obviously needed.”

Chief Halstead continued, “Recently, I saw a respected military leader and former Pentagon official make this statement on a national news network:

‘The fact of the matter is, for many years, we’ve had these types of ‘secure messaging apps,’ but yet, we’ve not been able to have the government create a usable one for classified communications. And if you want to have an effective military and effective operations, you have to be able to communicate effectively with groups in a secure fashion.’

There is no need for the government to create any technology that is both secure and FOIA compliant; it already exists, and it’s called Genasys CONNECT.”

What our elected officials need is precisely what was summarized by the former Pentagon official: an encrypted, secure, transparent, and high accountability platform to achieve a multitude of sensitive missions. That platform is Genasys CONNECT.”

With Genasys CONNECT, government agencies and departments get:

• Heavily encrypted messaging from any device to all devices
• Fully owned & controlled by the agency (Genasys has no access to data, chats, or information)
• Fortified Team chats where it is impossible for any person to be mistakenly added
• Nothing can be deleted or altered to maintain compliance
• Unlimited data sharing, photos, videos, documents
• Screenshot protection
• No push/share features, so your secure communications will not be on social platforms
• All persons added to the platform are logged and tracked (they can only be added by sending an encrypted invitation directly to them)
• All data, chats, attachments are owned by the agency (in this scenario, DOD) and can be easily reviewed in 30 seconds
• Complete transparency and accountability from all elected officials and law enforcement agencies
• Full compliance with FOIA, CJIS/FBI, public records retention laws, and HIPAA

By using an encrypted communications platform that was specifically created for governmental operations, high profile investigations, and sensitive military missions, the US Government, and all state, local governments/agencies could avoid the unnecessary problems created by using a non-FOIA-compliant app like Signal.

Encrypted communications platforms like Signal are designed so that the user/s can hide or delete their communications, and in trial testimony has been noted to be preferred for use by organized criminal syndicates.

Chief Halstead continued, “An estimated 90% of police departments I meet with have disclosed that their SWAT teams, gang detectives, and narcotics officers also use the Signal app, which is completely illegal to share CJIS (criminal justice information), and to build probable cause to take police action. Our government and police officers should not be on this platform, period.”

Encrypted communications platforms like Signal are designed so that the user/s can hide or delete their communications, and in trial testimony has been noted to be preferred for use by organized criminal syndicates. We need to demand full transparency and accountability for those trusted with these positions, and Genasys CONNECT is the first step towards that critical combination of security and compliance accountability.

About Genasys Inc.

Genasys Inc. (NASDAQ: GNSS) is the global leader in Protective Communications. Incorporating the most comprehensive portfolio of preparedness, response, and analytics software and systems, as well as the Company’s Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD^®), the Genasys Protect platform is designed around one premise: ensuring organizations and public safety agencies are “Ready when it matters™.” Protecting people and saving lives for over 40 years, Genasys covers more than 155 million people in all 50 states and in over 100 countries worldwide. For more information, visit genasys.com.