Google Messages putting American users at risk, report claims

U.S. government officials are urging citizens to use only encrypted applications to protect their communications from the Chinese government-backed Salt Typhoon hacking group. You have to know which apps offer end-to-end encryption, and Google Messages doesn’t exactly fall into that category. It is said that he has always been Some of the country’s largest telecommunications companies include AT&T and Verizonlasts for several months, and it may take some time for the hackers to be completely removed from the system.

As has been widely reported recently, Cross-platform RCS messaging is not end-to-end encryptedwhich is why iOS and Android users should consider using third-party apps like WhatsApp or Signal Send text messages to each other.

and Verizon Retire its proprietary applications and AT&T and, To some extent, Samsung If you were to do the same to encourage Google Messages adoption, you’d expect Google to provide more transparency about which conversations are protected. However, as bold fireball notes, Google Messages continues to roll out As an application with end-to-end encryption support, though this is only partially true.

Google Messages only supports end-to-end encryption via RCS if the person on the other end also has the latest version of the app. The app reinforces this statement by mentioning that “data is encrypted during transmission” and “your data is transmitted over a secure connection.”

Again, this is not a false assertion, but these security practices only apply when you’re sending text messages to people who also use Google Messages.

Ordinary users who don’t follow technology news will accept this statement and believe that they are complying with FBI and CISA guidelines by using Google Messages. Even simply sending text messages to other Android users may not be enough to protect against eavesdropping by Chinese hackers, since end-to-end encryption cannot be used when texting or sending text messages to people using RCS clients (other than Google Messages). detailed information rather than inadvertently leaving users in the dark.