[wronex]

I've been trying to figure out how end-to-end encrypted communication is supposed to work in these apps. From what I can gather you need two things, a central server, and public key encryption. To start a conversation your first task is getting the public key of your intended recipient. This is supplied by a central server that acts as a public key repository and message relay/store. Then you can send your message by leaving it at the central server for later delivery to the recipient (encrypted with their public key.) This is also the start of some form of key exchange in the hopes of switching to symmetric encryption for future communication.

I see problems with this setup. The central server is responsible for relaying communication since there is no directly link between those trying to communicate. It is also responsible for handing out public keys. It is literally a man in the middle. What is stopping the central server from lying about the public keys? What is stopping the server from decrypting everything?

Hopefully my understanding of this is wrong. It is certainly incomplete.