Posted on 12/09/24
| News Source: FOX Business
The FBI and a leading federal cybersecurity agency are warning Android and iPhone users to stop sending unencrypted texts to users of the other operating system after the Salt Typhoon hack of several major U.S. telecommunications providers.
Officials with the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are cautioning that the Salt Typhoon cyber breach, conducted by actors in China, targeted telecom firms. The hackers gained access to call records, live phone calls of specific targets, and systems used by companies to handle court orders from law enforcement and intelligence agencies to track calls.
While the breach has yet to be resolved, officials are encouraging users to communicate using encrypted messaging systems.
Apple's iPhone and Google's Android smartphones have encryption for iPhone-to-iPhone messaging and Android-to-Android messaging, respectively, but messages between Android and iPhone users aren't encrypted.
"Our suggestion, what we have told folks internally, is not new here. Encryption is your friend, whether it's on text messaging or if you have the capacity to use encrypted voice communication," Jeff Greene, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, told NBC News on a press call.
Greene added that the scale of the breach in telecom systems is so extensive that it is "impossible" for agencies "to predict a time frame on when we'll have full eviction," NBC News reported.
An FBI official, speaking anonymously, told NBC, "People looking to further protect their mobile device communications would benefit from considering using a cellphone that automatically receives timely operating system updates, responsibly managed encryption, and phishing-resistant" security tools, such as multifactor authentication for email, social media, and other accounts.
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