After a massive cyberattack on U.S. telecom firms and dozens of countries by a hacker group backed by China, security experts are worried about communication networks and even the privacy of text messaging for individual citizens.After a recent attack on U.S. telecom companies by a Chinese hacking group, cybersecurity experts say people should take action to protect their text messages. At least eight U.S.
"We are constantly bombarded with concerns about phishing and email scams and malicious links," said security consultant Andrew Kirsch, a former intelligence officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service . The telecommunications company says it hasn't seen any evidence of an attack, but continues "to investigate and maintain vigilance."
For example, he said placing an international telephone call from point A to point B requires an interconnection between network operators, as does international roaming with mobile phones.Cyberattacks on universities highlight how Canada lags in response to foreign threats: expert Canadian security experts and officials with the FBI recommend people use encrypted messaging apps for all text messages. As a result of this hack, concerns about the security of text messages have emerged.
Robertson says that Signal gives users access to "a gold standard form of encryption" that is very user friendly, and noted that "very similar things can be said about WhatsApp."Kirsh says if people are using regular text messaging, he recommends that they never write any message that they wouldn't "put on a postcard and physically mail" because "once you put that information out in the world, you've lost control of it.