The FBI pleaded with iPhone and Android users Tuesday to stop texting each other due to fears their messages could be hacked.
The unprecedent move came after the agency found exchanges between the two brands leave messages vulnerable, suggesting that Americans should use encrypted apps like WhatsApp to prevent third parties from accessing conversations.
The warning stemmed from the China-linked hacking campaign known as Salt Typhoon that has reportedly breached several US networks.
Now, a US officials revealed that a ‘large number’ of Americans’ cellphone data was stolen during the attacks.
‘The extent and depth and breadth of Chinese hacking is absolutely mind-boggling – that we would permit as much as has happened in just the last year is terrifying,’ Senator Richard Blumenth said during a classified briefing Wednesday.
Deputy National Security adviser Anne Neuberger noted he China-linked efforts have breached at least eight US telecom firms and dozens of nations since emerging earlier this year.
Federal agencies have spent the last few months investigation the true scale of the Asian nation’s operations, only to still come up empty handed.
White House officials said at least eight US telecommunication firms were attacked by a Chinese hacking campaign. The statement comes as the FBI warned iPhone and Android users not to text each other
Salt Typhoon previously targeted the phones of Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance, along with people associated with Vice President Kamala Harris.
AT&T, Verizon, Lumen Technology and T-Mobile also confirmed breaches.
Jeff Greene, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, said: ‘Right now, the hardening guidance that we put out specifically would make the activities that we’ve seen across the victims much harder to continue.
‘These are not cookie-cutter compromises in terms of how deeply compromised a victim might be, or what the actor has been able to do.’
T-Mobile and Lumen said that attacks were detected, but they found no evidence customer data was accessed on its network.
Verizon said ‘several weeks ago, we became aware that a highly sophisticated, nation-state actor accessed several of the nation’s telecom company networks, including Verizon’ adding the incident was focused on a very small subset of individuals in government and politics.
And AT&T’s statement said it is ‘working in close coordination with federal law enforcement, industry peers and cyber security experts to identify and remediate any impact on our networks.’
Greene issued the warning to iPhone and Android users, urging them to be vigilant amid the hacking campaign.
He told Politico that people should ‘use your encrypted communications where you have it,’ adding that ‘we definitely need to do that, kind of look at what it means long-term, how we secure our networks.’
The campaign, known as Salt Typhoon, emerged earlier this year and officials say the groups have links to China
Encrypted apps protect user’s data by transforming their phone calls and text messages into an unreadable format to prevent dangerous parties from gaining unauthorized access.
‘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,’ Greene told NBC News.
‘Even if the adversary is able to intercept the data, if it is encrypted, it will make it impossible.’
China has rejected accusations from US officials that it engages in cyberespionage directed against Americans.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington called the U.S. allegations ‘disinformation.’
China’s government ‘firmly opposes and combats all kinds of cyber attacks,’ spokesperson Liu Pengyu wrote in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.
‘The US needs to stop its own cyberattacks against other countries and refrain from using cyber security to smear and slander China.’
