US Officials Urge Americans to Use Encrypted Apps Amid Unprecedented Cyberattack

An anonymous reader shared this report from NBC News:

Amid an unprecedented cyberattack on telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Verizon, U.S. officials have recommended that Americans use encrypted messaging apps to ensure their communications stay hidden from foreign hackers...

In the call Tuesday, two officials — a senior FBI official who asked not to be named and Jeff Greene, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — both recommended using encrypted messaging apps to Americans who want to minimize the chances of China's intercepting their communications. '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. Even if the adversary is able to intercept the data, if it is encrypted, it will make it impossible,' Greene said. The FBI official said, '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' multi-factor authentication for email, social media and collaboration tool accounts...

The FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies have a complicated relationship with encryption technology, historically advocating against full end-to-end encryption that does not allow law enforcement access to digital material even with warrants. But the FBI has also supported forms of encryption that do allow some law enforcement access in certain circumstances.
Officials said the breach seems to include some live calls of specfic targets and also call records (showing numbers called and when). 'The hackers focused on records around the Washington, D.C., area, and the FBI does not plan to alert people whose phone metadata was accessed.'

'The scope of the telecom compromise is so significant, Greene said, that it was 'impossible' for the agencies 'to predict a time frame on when we'll have full eviction.''

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