From September 1ᵉʳ, the agents of all the French ministries will have to abandon WhatsApp and signal for Tchap, the encrypted messaging developed by the State, according to a circular signed by François Bayrou, the Prime Minister. This time, homemade messaging is privileged in front of the private French messaging Olvid.
All the firms of the French ministries only have only one month to organize themselves: their agents will have, as of September 1ᵉʳ, use the messaging of the Tchap State to communicate in place of the consumer platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal. This is the message of François Bayrou, the Prime Minister, who published a circular intended for all the state ministries on July 25. The document, spotted by Politico et Next And accessible here, underlines that it will be necessary ” Largely deploy Instant Tchap messaging “to ensure the safety of conversations and information shared through instant messaging ».
Without appointing them, the Prime Minister’s office specifies that “The main consumer -public instant messaging applications” are not without safety flaws and do not provide all safety guarantees in a professional environment ». Or, « Public officials face an increasing number of cyber attacks, and exposed to an increasing risk of interception of their electronic communications, jeopardizing the confidentiality of their exchanges ». It is thus recalled that ” Certain so -called secure trade messaging are under the influence of foreign countries, which are likely to implement technical or legal measures to access communications exchanged ».
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Tchap used by 300,000 agents
In the United States, the FISA law imposes for example on any American company, including mainly used communication platforms as WhatsApp, to share the exchanges of their users, including European, if the administration or the American secret services request it. A situation that Matignon wishes to avoid when it comes to communications from the French ministries.
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Tchap, often unknown to the general public, is a house tool in the state, developed by Dinum, the interdepartmental management of digital. Described as ” Sovereign instant messaging »Encrypted from start to finish, the platform is used today by 300,000 civil servants for their exchanges between administrations or with outside people.
Olvid now in second position
And now, ” each minister is responsible for the implementation of this circular within his ministry and awareness of its teams to the challenges of communications safety “, Insists Matignon. Everyone will have to play the game as of September 1ᵉʳ. Olvid, the French (private) encrypted messaging which has so far been recommended since the November 2023 circular signed by Elisabeth Borne, then Prime Minister, can continue to be used by ministerial offices which had already deployed it. But if it is discussions between state administrations, Tchap must be favored, specifies the circular of July 2025: a turnaround compared to the previous rules which had positioned state messaging in the background for the benefit of private messaging.
Questioned by 01net.comThomas Bath The “terminal circular” of November 22, 2023 required the use of Tchap or Olvid on members of the government and ministerial offices. These users therefore had a choice. Some have chosen Olvid […] ». However, the new circular specifies that these last “”can continue to use this solution ”. Those who use Olvid today will certainly continue to use Olvid Tomorrow “Continues the leader, recalling that” his Safety model has earned him the first (and today still the only) secure instant messaging certified by the ANSSI ”.
On July 24, the Prime Minister, who answered a written question by senator Mickaël Vallet (Ser) on the real application of the previous circular by members of the government, already mentioned ” A new circular requiring the broad deployment of (Tchap), without excluding the use of Olvid », « Given the development of security and uses of tchap ”.
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Writing note: This article was modified on Friday August 1 to include the comments of Olvid received after the initial publication.
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