Not CUI Compliant
5 NIST 800-171 gaps detected. No FedRAMP Marketplace record as of 2026-07-27 — searched the live registry at fedramp.gov/marketplace. Signal offers no tenant data-retention or administrative audit controls of the kind NIST 800-171 3.3.1 assumes.
Signal
by Signal Foundation
FedRAMP Status
Not FedRAMP Authorized
Impact Level
N/A
Category
Secure Messaging
Overview
Signal offers strong end-to-end encryption, and this is not a judgement about that. It has no FedRAMP Marketplace record, and no organisational data-retention, administrative audit or centralised management controls, so nothing places it inside an authorized boundary for CUI.
CUI Risk Assessment
No FedRAMP Marketplace record as of 2026-07-27 — searched the live registry at fedramp.gov/marketplace. Signal offers no tenant data-retention or administrative audit controls of the kind NIST 800-171 3.3.1 assumes.
Deployment & Architecture
Deployment Model: Cloud SaaS (vendor-hosted)
Signal has no FedRAMP authorization on record. DFARS 252.204-7012(b)(2)(ii)(D) requires an external cloud service provider to meet security requirements equivalent to the FedRAMP Moderate baseline — an authorization is the straightforward way to show that, but it is not the only one. Without one, the burden is on you to establish, document, and defend equivalency, and to meet the clause's incident-reporting and media-preservation obligations. Most contractors find an authorized alternative cheaper than carrying that burden.
Migration Checklist
- 1ISSO must immediately issue organization-wide directive prohibiting Signal usage for any communications that could carry FCI or CUI.
- 2Contracts officer shall review all active contracts to ensure Signal usage doesn't violate DFARS 252.204-7012 CUI protection requirements.
- 3Sysadmin must conduct comprehensive network scan to identify all Signal installations across corporate devices and BYOD endpoints.
- 4Legal counsel should issue litigation hold notices for any Signal conversations containing CUI or business-sensitive information.
- 5ISSO shall update the System Security Plan to explicitly exclude consumer messaging applications from the authorization boundary.
- 6Sysadmin must deploy mobile device management policies blocking Signal installation on corporate devices.
- 7ISSO shall create POA&M entries documenting Signal removal timeline and interim risk mitigation measures.
- 8Contracts officer must notify customers of migration timeline and ensure continuity of required communications channels.
- 9Sysadmin should implement network-level blocking of Signal domains and endpoints at firewall and proxy levels.
- 10ISSO must update authorization boundary diagrams removing any Signal data flows and validate with authorizing official.
NIST 800-171 Violations
Using Signal for CUI without FedRAMP authorization may violate these NIST 800-171 controls:
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FedRAMP Compliant Alternatives
Related Compliance Assessments
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Signal approved for DoD communications?
No. DoD memoranda explicitly list Signal as not authorized for non-public DoD information. Despite strong encryption, it lacks FedRAMP authorization, audit trails, and data retention required for compliance.
But Signal has end-to-end encryption — is that not sufficient?
Encryption alone is not sufficient. NIST 800-171 requires audit logging (3.3.x), data retention (3.8.x), and centralized access control (3.1.x). Signal has none of these. Use AWS Wickr for authorized encrypted messaging.
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