Last week, the FBI warned iPhone and Android users to stop texting and to use an encrypted messaging platform instead. The news made global headlines, with cyber experts urging smartphone users to switch to fully secured platforms—WhatsApp, Signal, Facebook Messenger. But the FBI also has a serious security warning for U.S. citizens using encrypted platforms—those apps, it says, need to change.
While China has denied any involvement in the ongoing cyberattacks on U.S. telco networks, describing this as “a pretext to smear China,” government agencies are clear that Salt Typhoon hackers linked to China’s Ministry of State Security, have infiltrated multiple networks, putting both metadata and actual content at risk.
Encrypting content is certainly the answer, and the FBI’s advice to citizens seemed clear-cut, “use a cell phone that automatically receives timely operating system updates, responsibly managed encryption and phishing resistant MFA for email, social media and collaboration tool accounts.”
