As the majority of tech companies lean into AI features and AI agents, Signal’s president, Meredith Whittaker, is pushing back. The Signal boss told Fortune that the rise of AI agents poses an “existential threat” not just to secure messaging apps like Signal but to anyone who builds apps for phones or computers.
To be able to fulfill their purpose of performing tasks on a user’s behalf, AI agents need access to large amounts of sensitive information, including things like bank details and passwords. However, this creates a large new “attack surface,” that cybercriminals or spy agencies could use to steal sensitive personal or company information.
AI agents are especially vulnerable to prompt injection attacks, where malicious websites hide instructions that trick the AI into executing harmful actions. Because products like AI web browsers can read and act on web content, attackers could potentially steal emails, access accounts, exfiltrate data, overwrite clipboards, or redirect users to phishing sites.
