In a press release, the American Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the NSA, the FBI, as well as the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand agencies launched an alert: hackers “affiliated with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) compromised the networks of the world’s leading telecommunications providers to carry out a large and significant cyberespionage campaign.”
According to an NBC News article, the group in question is known as Salt Typhoon. The threat would be very large and still active. Furthermore, according to the American media, Jeff Greene, deputy director of CISA, and senior FBI official, advises Americans to use encrypted means of communication.
“Our suggestion, what we've been telling people internally, is not new: Encryption is your friend, whether it's text messaging or the ability to use encrypted voice communications.”he declared. Indeed, even if a hacker is able to intercept a message, it will be encrypted and unreadable.
The official also reportedly explained that the scale of the threat is so great that it is currently impossible to know when it will be completely eliminated.
The FBI advises using encrypted messaging
If you use services like WhatsApp or iMessage, which use end-to-end encryption, you are already following the recommendations of this American official. A similar encryption system is also available, by default, on RCS text messages between Android smartphones. However, for the moment, this protection is not available for communications between iPhone and Android, without going through a third-party application.
As a reminder, before iOS 18, the only way to exchange text messages between an iPhone and an Android, without using a third-party application, was SMS. But with the iOS 18 update, Apple brought support for the RCS protocol, which allows for an advanced messaging experience between iPhones and Android smartphones. However, as Samsung recently pointed out, RCS text messages exchanged between an iPhone and an Android device do not benefit from end-to-end encryption, unlike RCS text messages between Android devices.
The alert launched by the American, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand agencies recalls the importance of having perfect interoperability, which should include end-to-end encryption, between the two major mobile platforms.
- The American Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the NSA, the FBI, as well as Australian, Canadian and New Zealand agencies indicate, in a press release, that hackers have “compromised the networks of the main global telecommunications providers”
- An American official advises using encrypted messaging to avoid being spied on
- Unfortunately, while end-to-end encryption is already active on RCS text messages between Android smartphones, this is not the case for RCS text messages between Android and iOS
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