Posted on 12/05/2024 2:52:23 AM PST by blueplum
A major cyberattack on big US telecom companies has led officials to recommend that people use encrypted messaging apps. Microsoft named the attack "Salt Typhoon," and it's affecting companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen Technologies.
Officials haven't released a timeline for when everything will be fixed, but they did say that a lot of different types of information were accessed in the breach. The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) advised using encrypted messaging apps like Signal or iMessage to reduce the chances of messages being intercepted. This essentially means to stop using SMS because it's not encrypted.
(Excerpt) Read more at howtogeek.com ...
T-Mobile US CSO: Spies jumped from one telco to another in a way 'I've not seen in my career' https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/05/tmobile_cso_telecom_attack/
Weakness: Biden's Government Literally Can't Remove Chinese Spies Caught Red-Handed Ransacking DC https://www.westernjournal.com/weakness-bidens-government-literally-cant-remove-chinese-spies-caught-red-handed-ransacking-dc/
Chinese Hackers Position Themselves In US Infrastructure Ahead Of Potential Conflict https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4281817/posts
I didn’t stop but I do use a VPN
Does a VPN encrypt SMS? This reads like the SMS is being intercepted and the unencrypted message is visible.
A VPN does not secure SMS. SMS is transmitted over the carrier network, not internet.
That's what I thought. Thanks.
everything goes over the VPN it’s the contact point(heavily fortified) for the internet
https://www.expressvpn.com/
I hope they get my text messages, so that they’ll be bored to death. Therefore, no more problem.
90% of my text memes and messages about how f’d up the government is so I’ll keep that up until it changes.
Give the Chinese a laugh, pisses off the government and I don’t care what other people think.
There are conflicting views now. I’ll take a gander at your link later, thanks. I’m on an iPhone so iMessage is already in use. It’s one of two suggested in the article, signal.app is the other.
okies. There are additional features to using a VPN that are often used to avoid repressive regimes by appearing be to located somewhere else
I also use this on my phones:
Text Message Filtering in Mobile Security can detect SMS spam messages, and sort them into Transactions, Promotions, and Junk dedicated folders on your iPhone. Enable Text Message Filtering to start sorting text messages from potential scammers.
https://support.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/articles/16953590905747-Manage-Mobile-Security-settings-on-iOS-devices
OK, so you made me go look this stuff up. LOL. Thanks!
What is the difference between iMessage, RCS, and SMS/MMS?
You can use the Messages app on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, or Apple Vision Pro to send messages. Those messages are sent as iMessage, RCS, or SMS/MMS. Learn more about the difference between the message types.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/104972
If you have an Apple device if I understand what I just read, you need to be on Wifi. Otherwise you are not protected via the iMessage app.
Looks like all that Huawei/ZTE telecom/cellular equipment that was installed in the US is paying dividends for the CCP. “Backdoors aplenty”!
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-huawei-threat-us-national-security
Thanks for doing the hard work. I can’t say I love apple after it simply gave the US government whatever it wanted during an “investigation”, but I hate it less than android. I wouldn’t have a google phone if they were giving them away.
This is an older article (Apple has made some changes to how it sends SMS/Android messages lately), but beware of “Green Bubbles”(sent to Android users) on iApple Message:
exactly people tried to warn about Chinese equipment in the infrastructure at least a decade ago and there’s more there than ever. It’d take years too weed out and without rare earths to make new chips, decade to replace
“...I can’t say I love apple after it simply gave the US government whatever it wanted during an “investigation”...”
???? Apple has resisted the FBI/Feds repeatedly...on the latest versions of iOS/iPadOS/MacOS if you turn on “Advanced Data Protection” everything is encrypted and there are no “backdoors”...you forget your passcode and you are SOL....even Apple cannot help you. (Or the FBI/DOJ, etc.).
The FBI (in the San Bernardino case) had to resort to paid hackers in Australia $900,000. to break into the (older/less secure) iPhone...newer iPhones have been further “hardened”.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/14/22383957/fbi-san-bernadino-iphone-hack-shooting-investigation
https://support.apple.com/en-us/108756
Same here.. I HATE the company, but it is leagues above Android (and, of course Google).
Have both iPad and iPhone.
Will never go back to Android.
Yup.. I remember that.
Hard coded chips in landline phones.
Almost 2 decades, if I remember right.
Can you elaborate on the benefits of Apple v Android, as I am contemplating switching phones? What about Samsung?
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