U.S. Officials Urge Americans to Use Encrypted Messaging Apps
This week, the FBI, the U.S. Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), along with partner agencies from New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, began promoting the use of end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) communications.
- This initiative is in response to law enforcement backdoors in public telephone networks—including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile—being exploited by Salt Typhoon, a cyberattack group attributed to the Chinese government.
"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," said Jeff Greene, executive assistant director of cybersecurity at CISA.
- Greene added that the extent of telecom compromise is so substantial that it is 'impossible' for the agencies to predict when a full eviction can be achieved.
- Senators Ron Wyden and Eric Schmitt have written to the Department of Defense requesting an investigation into its "failure to secure unclassified telephone communications from foreign espionage," which poses a serious risk to U.S. national security.
"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," said a senior FBI official who asked not to be named.
- Despite acknowledging encryption's security benefits, US officials have long sought backdoors for government access to encrypted communications, enabling them to be exploited by criminal hackers and other nation-states.
- Few years ago, FBI Director Chris Wray described strong encryption as "an urgent public safety issue" as law enforcement officials urged tech companies to weaken digital communication protections.
- Meanwhile in the European Union, prosecutors continue to urge sanctions on encrypted messaging services part of the 'Going Dark' campaign, despite the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling earlier this year that laws mandating weakened encryption and extensive data retention violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
CISA Publication / Archive
NBC Article / Archive
TechCrunch Article / Archive
Ars Technica Article / Archive
The Hill Article / Archive
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