Following revelations that China penetrated U.S. phone networks in a hacking operation that undermined U.S. national security, U.S. government agencies require use of end-to-end encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp, Signal, and FaceTime. It is being
In a letter to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), two prominent senators argue that the Department of Defense continues to use unencrypted landlines and unencrypted platforms such as Microsoft Teams. They warned that this was putting their security at risk.
The warning comes after the FBI and U.S. cybersecurity infrastructure say a group linked to the People’s Republic of China has compromised multiple phone networks and accessed the private communications of a “limited number” of people in China’s government and political circles. This has been confirmed by the Agency (CISA). A hacking operation called Salt Typhoon.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Republican Sen. Eric Schmidt, in a letter dated Dec. 4, 2024, accused the Department of Defense of failing to use its purchasing power to demand cyber protection and accountability from wireless telephone service providers. criticized.
“The Department of Defense has failed to protect unclassified audio, video, and text communications with end-to-end encryption, leaving them vulnerable to foreign spies,” it warned.
US Navy tests encrypted messaging
Senators reveal previously classified details of U.S. Navy trials testing Matrix, an end-to-end encrypted communications platform, an open source decentralized service widely used in NATO countries did. The U.S. Navy is testing Matrix to send encrypted messages from 23 ships and three land-based sites.
“While we applaud the Department of Defense for piloting such secure and interoperable communications technologies, their use remains an exception. Appropriate measures across the Department of Defense and the federal government is unstable,” the senators said.
“The widespread adoption of insecure proprietary tools is due to the failure of Department of Defense leadership to require the use of default end-to-end encryption, a cybersecurity best practice, and to This is a direct result of not prioritizing communications security in our assessments.”
The Salt Typhoon attack, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, reportedly targeted individuals including President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. It becomes.
“Despite repeated warnings from experts and Congress, this successful espionage operation should finally serve as a wake-up call for government communications security,” the senators wrote.
The FBI and CISA recommend using encrypted messaging and voice services like Signal and WhatsApp to reduce the risk of hackers intercepting your text messages.
Jeff Green, CISA’s executive assistant director for cybersecurity, told NBC this week: Even if an adversary were able to intercept the data, it would be impossible if the data was encrypted. ”
According to an October 2024 blog by cybersecurity expert Bruce Schneier, Chinese hackers are using the U.S. government to carry out wiretapping requests mandated by the Law Enforcement Communications Assistance Act of 1994. The attacker appears to have accessed a backdoor used by.
“For years, the security community has resisted these backdoors, pointing out that technical capabilities cannot tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys,” he said. “And here is another example of backdoor access mechanisms being targeted by the ‘wrong’ eavesdroppers.”
Matthew Hodgson, co-founder of Matrix.org, a non-profit foundation developing standards for end-to-end encryption, told Computer Weekly that the Salt Typhoon hack echoed concerns raised about the impact of British online services. He said it was a “disappointing validation”. The security law includes measures that could be used to weaken end-to-end encrypted communication services.
“The fact is that end-to-end encryption is a good idea, backdoors are a bad idea, and everyone should jump on encrypted systems like Matrix or Signal rather than trust them,” he said. “It’s morbidly funny to see the intelligence community telling everyone: We don’t need the telephone network anymore,” he said.
