Direct from NBC News: “Amid an unprecedented cyberattack on telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Verizon, U.S. officials have recommended that Americans use encrypted messaging apps to ensure their communications stay hidden from foreign hackers.
The hacking campaign, nicknamed Salt Typhoon by Microsoft, is one of the largest intelligence compromises in U.S. history, and it has not yet been fully remediated. Officials on a news call Tuesday refused to set a timetable for declaring the country’s telecommunications systems free of interlopers. Officials had told NBC News that China hacked AT&T, Verizon and Lumen Technologies to spy on customers.”
Any users conducting academic research involving potentially sensitive political topics, working with protected intellectual property, or working in journalism in the Middle East, China, The Korean Peninsula, Russia, India, or Iran should assume that any correspondences on their phones are likely compromised. It is recommended users cease activity on all unencrypted messaging apps to friends, family, colleagues, or journalistic sources as those communications have likely been intercepted by nation-state actors.
Users who are concerned about the privacy of messaging on their devices should use encrypted messaging apps like Signal.
Additional References:
https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/joint-statement-fbi-and-cisa-peoples-republic-china-prc-targeting-commercial-telecommunications
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12798