Amid the Salt Typhoon hacks, US officials recommend that Americans use encrypted messaging apps to ensure their communications stay hidden from foreign hackers
Stop Sending Texts Jonny Evans / Computerworld : The FBI now says encryption is good for you — Apple has been battling to maintain encryption for a decade. Cynthia B Brumfield / Metacurity : Feds Push Defense Measures Against Salt Typhoon, Say Americans Should Use Encrypted Apps Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency : CISA, NSA, FBI and International Partners Publish Guide for Protecting Communications InfrastructureDavid James / Entrepreneur : Hackers May Be Reading Your Texts — U.S. Officials Urge All Americans to Use Encryption Messaging Apps in the Wake of Massive Cyberattack Ernestas Naprys / Cybernews.com : FBI and CISA say to use encrypted messengers as Chinese hackers attack networks Rob Beschizza / Boing Boing : FBI warns iPhone and Android users about text messaging security William Gallagher / AppleInsider : FBI suggests use of encrypted messaging apps while US faces huge cyberattack from ChinaAlan Friedman / PhoneArena : This is why the FBI is warning iOS users not to text Android users and vice versa Bluesky: Josh Sternberg / @joshsternberg.com : “Encryption is your friend, whether it's on text messaging or if you have the capacity to use encrypted voice communication. Even if the adversary is able to intercept the data, if it is encrypted, it will make it impossible,” - CISA — www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit... Emil Protalinski / @emilprotalinski : Companies that make messaging apps (Apple, Meta, Signal, etc.) should file this away for the next legal fight with the US government over end-to-end encryption. [embedded post] @evacide : From now on, every time there is a new proposal to backdoor e2ee apps, we're just going to point to this, right? — www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit... Kevin Collier / @kevincollier : In a call today about the ongoing difficulties remediating kicking China's hackers out of US telecoms, FBI and CISA suggested you call and text with encryption. (Really) Mastodon: Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life@mas.to : Due to an ongoing cyberattack on US telcos such as AT&T and Verizon, U.S. officials recommend Americans use encrypted messaging apps to ensure their communications stay hidden from foreign hackers. — This is an important message to remember the next time some government complains about the existence of encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp. … Zack Whittaker / @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social : I can't tell you what an incredible headline this is, given the decades(!) of pressure by the U.S. government advocating for technological backdoors, and all it had to take was China breaching some of America's biggest phone networks to get here. — “U.S. officials urge Americans to use encrypted apps amid unprecedented cyberattack.” … X: Joseph Lorenzo Hall, PhD / @joebeone : Ahem, [taps the end-to-end encryption sign] “U.S. officials urge Americans to use encrypted apps amid cyberattack that exposed live phone calls” https://www.nbcnews.com/... Tarah M. Wheeler / @tarah : Oh goodness...schadenfreude? For MEEEE? You shouldn't have. No, really, you shouldn't have. You should have been listening to us all along when we told you this would happen. A lot. https://www.nbcnews.com/... Ben Goggin / @benjamingoggin : The FBI encouraged people to use encrypted apps in a call today, saying that it was unclear when American telecoms companies would be safe from a cyberattack that has made some voice calls vulnerable to interception. https://www.nbcnews.com/... Forums: r/cybersecurity : U.S. officials urge Americans to use encrypted apps amid unprecedented cyberattack r/crypto : U.S. officials urge Americans to use encrypted apps amid unprecedented cyberattack Slashdot : US Officials Urge Americans to Use Encrypted Apps Amid Unprecedented Cyberattack
NBC NewsKevin Collier
Context & Ripple Effects
The recommendation follows reports that Salt Typhoon breached U.S. ISP networks and potentially reached wiretap systems, then accounts that the group could access calls and texts through telecom compromises. It shifts the focus from carrier-network exposure to a protection users can apply at the messaging layer.
It also cuts against a long-running policy tension: U.S. and allied governments had previously sought backdoors in end-to-end encrypted products, while the Salt Typhoon episode has made encrypted communications an official defensive recommendation.
First-order effects
Americans are being directed by the FBI, CISA and NSA toward end-to-end encrypted messaging apps as a practical response to telecom-network interception risk.
Encrypted messaging providers and mobile platforms gain a clearer security-use case as users and organizations reassess reliance on ordinary texts and carrier voice communications.
The guidance raises the stakes for carriers' remediation: exposure described as including calls and texts accessed through telecom networks makes network security a customer-trust issue, not solely a government-security matter.
Third-order effects
If such incidents persist, end-to-end encryption is likely to become a more central consumer-security baseline even as governments continue to weigh lawful-access demands against the risks of weakened communications security.
The episode points toward security models that assume the network itself can be compromised, pushing protection toward applications and endpoints alongside carrier infrastructure defenses.
The trend: Salt Typhoon is one data point in a shift from trusting telecom networks by default to layering user-controlled encryption over increasingly contested communications infrastructure.
“Encryption is your friend, whether it's on text messaging or if you have the capacity to use encrypted voice communication. Even if the adversary is able to intercept the data, if it is encrypted, it will make it impossible,” - CISA — www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...
Companies that make messaging apps (Apple, Meta, Signal, etc.) should file this away for the next legal fight with the US government over end-to-end encryption. [embedded post]
In a call today about the ongoing difficulties remediating kicking China's hackers out of US telecoms, FBI and CISA suggested you call and text with encryption. (Really)
I can't tell you what an incredible headline this is, given the decades(!) of pressure by the U.S. government advocating for technological backdoors, and all it had to take was China breaching some of America's biggest phone networks to get here. — “U.S. officials urge American…
Ahem, [taps the end-to-end encryption sign] “U.S. officials urge Americans to use encrypted apps amid cyberattack that exposed live phone calls” https://www.nbcnews.com/...
Oh goodness...schadenfreude? For MEEEE? You shouldn't have. No, really, you shouldn't have. You should have been listening to us all along when we told you this would happen. A lot. https://www.nbcnews.com/...
The FBI encouraged people to use encrypted apps in a call today, saying that it was unclear when American telecoms companies would be safe from a cyberattack that has made some voice calls vulnerable to interception. https://www.nbcnews.com/...
The FBI — after contending for years how encryption threatened policing (the “going dark” debate) — is advocating people use encrypted communication apps in light of Salt Typhoon's massive telco hack in which defenders *still* have not kicked them out yet. #infosec www.nbcnews.co…
The FBI has not always been a fan of encrypted apps. — So you know it's serious when “The FBI urges Americans to use encrypted apps amid unprecedented cyberattack” www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...
The irony, it burns. — Yes, there are tradeoffs to end to end encryption, but it's wild for the FBI to start agreeing with basically the entire security community that it's an often-necessary security message. — www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...
Oh goodness...schadenfreude? For MEEEE? You shouldn't have. — No, really, you shouldn't have. You should have been listening to us all along when we told you this would happen. A lot. www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...
amid totally predictable cyber-attack, U.S. government tells Americans to use encrypted messaging apps that U.S. government has been demonizing and trying to outlaw for years www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...
New: The U.S. government is still trying to kick Salt Typhoon out of telecom networks, officials confirmed today. — No timeline yet for when Salt Typhoon could be completely removed, and officials are still trying to even determine the full scope of the intrusion. — www.axios…
This paragraph about how Salt Typhoon state or state-affiliated attackers from China managed to blow past the defenses of enormous U.S. telcos shouldn't shock you. But (if you're an American) it absolutely should make you really, really angry: https://www.cisa.gov/... [image]
What a mess. “Given where we are in discovering the activity, I think it would be impossible for us to predict a time frame on when we'll have full of eviction” of hackers from the networks, said Jeff Greene, [an official] at CISA. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
CISA & FBI publish guidance for mitigating cyberattacks by Chinese hacker group responsible for telecom company intrusions. It's basic stuff: monitor assets and traffic, manage device configurations, limit access, segment networks, encrypt traffic, etc. https://www.cisa.gov/... […
⚠️ A #PRC-affiliated threat actor compromised networks of major global #telecommunications providers with a broad cyber espionage campaign. Our 🆕 joint guide has guidance to help strengthen visibility & harden network devices against this activity.🔗 https://www.cisa.gov/... [imag…
All @NTCAconnect providers need to stay on high alert for #SaltTyphoon to ensure security for your networks and your consumers. @CISAgov and others have resources if needed or reach out to our team. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...