The fun part is they don’t know the extent of the comprise or how long it has been going on.
What happened is that CISA recently published a report stating that they think a lot of US telecommunications equipment has been compromised. It isn’t a one time breach. They know that China has control over a unspecified amount of critical components. The malware China is using is extremely complex and very hard if not completely impossible to detect. China is very good at covering there tracks so even getting a sample of Malware is hard.
Because of all this, CISA is now recommending that people use encrypted messagers.
Apparently, the hackers exploited the backdoor that was provided for “lawful surveillance” in the 3G spec. Imagine that.
Lol.
Seven years ago I spent hours trying to explain to my MP that this would happen if they weakened encryption and put in back doors.
He seemingly couldn’t get his head round the fact that you have to assume foreign adversaries have access to everything in transit and they’re not going to be worried about longer prison sentences designed to make up for weaker security.
I should send him an email asking if he understands the argument now it’s coming from an American in a suit and not just one of the plebs.
This is why the old guard of tech and privacy was against a lot of the shenanigans you routinely encounter in any app or device. Bonus, the S in IoT stands for security.
So what would be an encrypted messenger? Telegram or a Matrix app like Element? Asking cuz I’ve been kinda hinting to my friends that maybe we should move away from Facebook Messenger, but all we do is share memes and YouTube videos… Occasionally we’ll fuck with their stupid AI and make it write all responses in cuneiform or call everyone “shitass”
Edit: I can’t spell for shit
Matrix is not always encrypted.
Signal, Simplex chat or any other well vetted messager. Avoid Telegram as it isn’t encrypted and is tied to Russia.
Whut? When is matrix not encrypted somtetimes? Genuine question - I’m a matrix newbie and i thought that all was encrypted was the whole point O.o
What breach happened
It not about one breach
CISA recently published a report stating that they think a lot of US telecommunications equipment has been compromised. It isn’t a one time breach. They know that China has control over a unspecified amount of critical components. The malware China is using is extremely complex and very hard if not completely impossible to detect. China is very good at covering there tracks so even getting a sample of Malware is hard. They are constantly evolving and adapting it so it is very tricky to pinpoint and clean systems.
Because of all this, CISA is now recommending that people use encrypted messagers. Usually the government wants unfeathered access to data so that’s how you know it is very bad.
unfeathered
Bone apple tea?
